Teosto (Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society) has officially requested that USB drives and mobile phones with MP3 playback function should join the products — such as DVDs and DVRs — with a recording/storage device royalty fee. Teosto has been fighting for the right to add the fees to mobile phones for two years now and now they want both external hard drives and thumb drives included as well. The proposal will now travel to Ministry of Education where the final decision is made.
Teosto has claimed that extensive amounts of copyrighted recordings are copied to both USB drives and mobile phones each year and therefore the composers have a right for a proper compensation. The fees would increase mobile phone prices up to 12,60 euros (approx. $16) for music phones such as the Nokia’s new touch-screen XpressMusic 5800 and presumably Apple iPhone.
Last year the same happened to HD DVD and Blu-ray discs that carry nowadays a fee of up to 1,89 euros per disc.
The proposed royalties for the year 2009 are as follows.
Mobile phones with MP3 playback:
1,4 euros for up to 512MB of internal memory
2,45 euros more than 512MB but up to 1GB of internal memory
3,45 euros more than 1GB but up to 20GB of internal memory
4,15 euros more than 20GB internal memory
Mobile phones that are advertised as music phones (eg. Nokia XpressMusic series, Sony Ericsson Walkman series):
2,4 euros for up to 512MB of internal memory
7,35 euros more than 512MB but up to 1GB of internal memory
[More]>>
Result for: external hard drives
2Wire has introduced its new MediaPoint set-top box that will deliver high definition content via a broadband connection.
The media hub can connect to home networks through wired or wireless connections and can also be remotely accessed via the Internet.
The box’s built-in USB ports allow users to stream all types of video and audio content from flash drives or external hard drives and the device is compatible with UPnP- and DLNA-enabled devices.
Electronista says the box will offer Internet browsing capability through your TV set but the interface method is unknown at this point. Internet radio is another interesting feature you will be able to access from the device.
The device will not be available to consumers directly and instead will come through ISPs such as Comcast and AT&T who purchase them, and “then offer specific content and options for the MediaPoint under their own respective brands.”
Rumor has it the device will sell for $89 USD but will likely be accompanied with a subscription service and contract.
Result for: external hard drives
As part of “Operation Music Box”, the Italian fiscal police have prosecuted forty-six people for uploading very large amounts of copyright infringing material through the Internet. The activity was carried out using eDonkey2000 and Direct Connect software. The investigation led to raids in 13 different provinces, turning up 1.7 million illegal mp3 files and more than 15,000 burnt CD-Rs containing copyright infringing music.
In total, 52 computers, two laptops, 81 external hard drives and 69 internal hard drives were seized. Under Italian law, the uploaders were held liable for more than €3 million in administrative sanctions. “People who upload hundreds or thousands of copyright infringing music tracks onto the Internet are breaking the law. They are stealing the livelihoods of artists, composers and record producers. I am delighted the Guardia di Finanza is holding them accountable for their actions,” said Enzo Mazza, president of FPM.
The trade value of the recording industry in Italy has shrunk from &euro370.1 million in 2003 to €266.2 million in 2007, and this fall has been largely blamed on the widescale availability of illegal MP3 copies.
