Consumer electronics companies such as Apple, Nokia, Siemens and Sony stand to save hundreds of millions of euros every year under plans by the European Commission to slash copyright levies on their iPods, DVD players and mobile phones, the Financial Times reports, citing an internal European Commission document.
The paper says the levies were introduced in the 1960s to compensate artists for analogue copying of their products. But governments have now extended the charges to digital players.
Copyright levies in Europe rose to EUR1.2 billion last year, up from EUR500 million in 2001, the newspaper says.
The Commission proposal would exempt all equipment that are marginal to copying content such as mobile phones and iPods. Officials told the newspaper that the E.U. will issue formal recommendations on the issue by early next year.
