The Japanese government is considering imposing a digital media player copyright fee for all gadgets that are capable of storing and playing digital audio and video files.
The fee has been suggested by the Japanese Culture Agency as a way of compensating copyright holders and artists over and above what they already get from sales. The reason for the additional payment is to act as compensation for the amount of illegal copying that takes place.
This is not the first time such a fee has been considered; with a similar charge being suggested back in 2005 by the same Culture Agency. At that time it was not introduced because no one could decide with a decent majority whether it was a good idea or not. This time, however, it looks more likely to be implemented due to many of the Culture Agency committee members thought to be in favor of it.
If introduced, the fee is set to be a few hundred Yen, which is several dollars.
Read more at the AFP article
Matthew’s Opinion
This is an interesting take on dealing with a piracy problem and one that could certainly benefit consumers. If Japan do introduce this new fee then consumers are paying copyright holders for the copying that is deemed to occur. So does this mean said copyright holders have their need for compensation satiated and therefore cannot go after consumers who copy?
The answer is likely no, but it does put a question mark over what music and movie companies can demand from people they have found to be illegally copying material in Japan. The main problem being that they are already being compensated for the copying.
As the fee is only a few hundred Yen it will likely not be noticed once applied. It may even be the case that retailers discount the products to counteract the fee and keep the sales coming in.
Tags: digital, cable, consumer technology, digital
