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April 29, 2005
iPod Tax in Netherlands Amounts To Accusation & Fine
The Register is reporting a possible iPod tax could be introduced in the Netherlands.
This kind of protectionist activity really attempts to thwart forward progress and amounts to what I think of whole industries acting like sore losers over an antiquated service delivery mechanism. The evolution of business inherently results in new ideas creating new business models and old ones becoming irrelevant. This is the nature of things.
It's one thing to try and grab a piece of the piece from consumers who are stealing intellectual property, but it also impacts other completely legitimate activity unfairly.
Take for an example, an independant musician or filmmaker who creates their own content and distributes it, they need to pay a levy on:
- the media they use to save and backup their projects
- the media they use to distribute it on (if being burned to quantities to CD-R and DVD-R)
- and apparently in Germany, the hard drives that they use to create the works on
And all proceeds go to the established artists and record labels and studios who are already successful.
This is completely unfair and a very unfortunately outcome.
Rather than grow with the times these kinds of groups are content to try and extend their monopolistic control.
The good news is that, in times, all the dinosaurs will perish and truly good ideas and delivery mechanisms will succeed. New players will come on to the scene and redefine a new era of digital delivery without the encumbrances of the old scheme. It's just frustrating to watch the transition.
Posted by Derek Leverington at April 29, 2005 11:13 AM
Comments
The Canadian government imposed a similar surcharge on MP3 players, but it was challenged in court, and was thrown out.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5495715.html
I haven't heard any updates, but I know there used to be a similar surcharge tacked onto blank CDs.
Posted by: Eric Eggertson at May 1, 2005 9:34 AM
I believe the levy on media is still in place in Canada. I recall seeing it referred to at a London Drugs location within the last six months.
In this day and age where digital delivery is so common and physical media becoming less relevant, it's ridiculous it's still in place.
I'm really amazed I'm not paying a levy on my ISP service - it's all variants of digital delivery.
Posted by: Derek Leverington at May 5, 2005 12:57 AM
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