Finland introduces govt fund to compensate artists
Finland has ditched the copyright levies on digital devices and has instead introduced a government fund to compensate artists for consumers’ private copying of music and film.
Finnish MEP Henna Virkkunen supports the decisionto let taxpayers pay for the compensation, as does Veronique Desbrosses, GM of the European grouping of author societies GESAC. However Desbrosses isn’t in support of ditching the levy system: “There should be a link between who should pay and who should benefit,” she said in a statement published by Register. “Putting remuneration in the hands of the state, is not a good idea because it is not linked to use or market behaviour.”
The move to introduce a special government fund, adopted by Finland last week, was adopted by Spain in 2012. Its '1657/2012 Royal Decree'regulates the procedure for payment of fair compensation to the rights holders for private copying with a charge to the General State Budget. The government considered that citizens could benefit from the limit of private copying as compensation for a part of the taxes that they pay. However, it didn’t sit well with collection societies who see it as an unfair measure for those who do not buy music.
In the UK, theMusicians’ Union, the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors(BASCA)and UK Music requested a judicial review of the UK Government’s October 1 introduction of a private copying exception. The amendment to the UK’s Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 enabled people to freely parody copyrighted material without fear of reprisal or legal challenge.The aforementioned associations labeled it"bad legislation, as it incorrectly implements the law by failing to include fair compensation".
The news follows Australia’s biggest move toward a scheme to end digital piracy. Attorney-General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s submission to cabinet last month looks to block websites that host infringing content. It also supports a scheme where repeat downloaders are given written warnings that they are breaching copyright, as has been adopted in the UK and US.