The "Blank CD-R/DVD-R Tax" FAQ USA & Canada

[BJ_M]

http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml#is_it_a_tax


read it and weep --- though I don't get how they are collecting 21cents tax from each cd-r when thats all im paying for them in the first place (more or less) ..

DVD's wil be $2.27 tax additional EACH in 2004



the levy on a 40 gigabtye iPod is now $25 (but at one time they proposed a levey of over $800 on top of the cost of the unit)

[painkiller]

This is confusing to say the least.

By that, I point out that - certainly here in the States - we seem to have been "suffering" from a steady decline in purchase prices (and an increase in rebates) of bulk media.

Especially in the form of blank CD-Rs and DVDs.

So, from that article, I take it that we should expect a time to come when the prices start going back up????????????????

This year or next????????????????

[The village idiot]

Once upon a time, here in the US, audio CDs were more expensive than data CDs. The reason was the tax (tariff, surcharche, what have you) placed ont to the disk to compensate the music industry. This seem to have gone the way of the dinosaurs, as everyone was just buying data CDs to make music back-ups. I think the tax was around $2.00 USD at the time.

I like this part:

1. If someone steals a commercial CD, steals a blank CD-R, and then copies the commercial CD onto the CD-R, they are a thief, but they have not infringed copyright.
2. You can legally lend a commercial CD to a friend, give him a blank CD-R, let him use your computer, and help him burn the CD-R which he can keep for his own private use.
3. You can legally copy a commercial CD , keep the copy, and give your friend the original.
4. You cannot legally make the copy yourself and give your friend the copy.
5. Your friends Alice and Benoit really like the new commercial CD you just purchased. Alice borrows it and makes a copy for her own use. She then passes the commercial CD on to Benoit, who makes a copy for his own use. Benoit gives the commercial CD back to you. This is all perfectly legal.
6. However, if Alice had copied the commercial CD, given it back to you, and passed her copy on to Benoit to make a copy for his own use, then copyright would have "probably" been infringed. There is some doubt here because Alice's original intent is important. In the strictest terms, her copy was no longer just for her private use. Pretty strange considering that the end result of examples 5 and 6 are exactly the same!

[aggies11]

Hmmm.

I remember reading somewhere that this levy was "stuck" somewhere, being debated by some government board or another. Or at least the proposed levy increases, the ones involving dvd-r and portable storage media.


I imagine that it's now "out" of limbo? heh.

I guess there are really two choices.
A. Make it illegal and inexpensive, OR
B. Make it legal, but pricey.

Which choice would you prefer?

Aggies

[K(c)offee]

This confuses me... so they make money of something they had no part in making or distributing? I want to get in on that. I have no part in the sale or production of gas. I would like some income from it.

[BJ_M]

This confuses me... so they make money of something they had no part in making or distributing? I want to get in on that. I have no part in the sale or production of gas. I would like some income from it.

work for your government

[aggies11]

It's not actually a "tax". So the government shouldn't get to keep it.

These funds are eventually supposed to be "redistributed" back to the original artists.

Although there is currently alot of controversy about the fact that people haven't actually seen any of this money being distributed yet...

Aggies