Court places levy on private copies
After three years of proceedings, the Swiss Federal Court has delivered its decision: regardless of the media used to make private copies, right holders have to be paid for the use of their works.
Producers and importers of recordable blank media, portable digital media players, video recorders with built-in hard drive and other similar devices will therefore now have to pay a rate that takes into account the amounts already paid by Internet users at legal shops online, which will come into effect as of September 1.
In response to criticism from consumer associations, rights management companies have stated that this decision also safeguards their interests and that without such a levy international law would have obliged Switzerland to remove the freedom to make private copies that the public currently enjoy.
(Translated from French)
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