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U.S., Australia Sign Trade Pact on Tariffs, Copyright Issues

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 3, 2004 - 3:50am.
Washington -- The U.S. has signed a trade agreement with Australia that will export some U.S. intellectual property laws, including software patents and controversial provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, CNET News.com reported. President Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed the agreement on Tuesday, with Bush touting the agreement both for eliminating tariffs on manufactured goods and agricultural products, and for its copyright-related provisions. The agreement will extend the duration of copyrights in Australia and also outlaw the circumvention of copy-protection schemes on digital devices. "The agreement strengthens protections for intellectual property and promotes electronic commerce," said Bush. "Our two nations are committed to the reduction of trade barriers and other restrictions that are keeping too much of the world from the kind of prosperity and opportunity that the developed world takes for granted."
tags: Deals | Australia | U.S. | Tariffs | Copyright Issues |

French Copyright Holders Threaten Apple Over Unpaid iPod Tariffs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2004 - 6:28am.
Paris -- A French music copyright holders group has threatened legal action against Apple Computer, over the company's refusal to pay tariffs on its iPod digital music players intended to reimburse labels and musicians for sales lost to piracy, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. France, like Canada and several other countries, imposes extra fees on sales of blank tapes, CDs and other media such as hard drives contained in digital music players like the iPod that are then doled out to musicians and other rights holders as a means of compensating them for the assumed unauthorized copying that the blank media facilitate. The Society of Music Creators, Composers and Publishers (Sacem) said in a statement that unless Apple begins paying the fees on iPods it sells in France, the group "will have no other option than to go immediately to court to make sure that the rights of artists, composers and producers are respected." Sacem estimates that Apple sold 20,000 iPods in France last year. The fees for hard drives vary by capacity, but AP noted that the tariff on a 40GB French iPod ($677) would equate to $24.63.
tags: iPod | Apple | Tariffs | French Copyright | Threaten |