http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051201/ap_on_hi_te/japan_ipod_tax
TOKYO - Japan is forgoing a copyright law revision to charge royalties on digital music players — a proposal dubbed the "iPod tax" — after discussions in a government panel produced no consensus on ways to police violations.
The decision Thursday from the Cultural Agency committee followed yearlong debate over how outdated the nation's system for levying an extra copyright fee on gadgets had grown, given the dramatic social changes in recent years in the digital content business, said government official Hiroyuki Suzuki.
Under today's system, the charge, generally 3 percent of the product's wholesale price, is included in the price tag so most shoppers aren't even aware they're paying it. But they apply to recording devices and other gadgets that can be used to duplicate copyrighted material.
Since last year, recording companies and other lobbies here have been grumbling that the same system should be applied to recording devices with hard-drives, including MP3 players like Apple Computer Inc.'s iPods as well as flash-memory players.
TOKYO - Japan is forgoing a copyright law revision to charge royalties on digital music players — a proposal dubbed the "iPod tax" — after discussions in a government panel produced no consensus on ways to police violations.
The decision Thursday from the Cultural Agency committee followed yearlong debate over how outdated the nation's system for levying an extra copyright fee on gadgets had grown, given the dramatic social changes in recent years in the digital content business, said government official Hiroyuki Suzuki.
Under today's system, the charge, generally 3 percent of the product's wholesale price, is included in the price tag so most shoppers aren't even aware they're paying it. But they apply to recording devices and other gadgets that can be used to duplicate copyrighted material.
Since last year, recording companies and other lobbies here have been grumbling that the same system should be applied to recording devices with hard-drives, including MP3 players like Apple Computer Inc.'s iPods as well as flash-memory players.