New digital canon pleases no one

Say goodbye to the old "digital canon" and hello to the new "per capita canon" to cover intellectual property rights. The former concept, a fee levied pre-emptively on all equipment capable of making private copies of digital content - such as CD and DVD recorders and even MP3-enabled cellphones - was controversial from the get-go and was disputed in the courts more than once.

Now, the new Popular Party (PP) government has decided that rather than charge just the buyers of digital recording equipment, every single Spaniard will contribute to a lump sum to be handed over to copyright management groups as compensation for private copies that people might make of protected work. That means newborns, hackers, retired folks and college students alike.

The exact amount agreed to "between the parties involved" could range between 37 and 42 million euros, according to sources at the Education, Culture and Sports Ministry. This money will come out of the state budget and go to copyright management groups in charge of relaying it to the creators of content.

But the new system is already prompting misgivings among the lawyers, tax experts, content creators and industry representatives to whom EL PAÍS has spoken. Authors note they will now make less than half the money they made with the "digital canon" in 2010, nearly 100 million euros.

To many, this change means spreading the cost around indiscriminately. "Although we still lack sufficient data for an in-depth analysis, one can guess that [the new system] has the same faults as the old canon, which took it for granted that if I bought a photocopier, I was going to make private copies. We are all paying alike for this subsidy for authors," says Luis del Amo, manager of the Economists and Tax Advisors Registry.

From a legal viewpoint, Paloma Llaneza, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights, believes that "the proposal does not establish the necessary balance between equitable compensation and damages caused, since it makes any physical person with Spanish nationality a user of protected services, independently of age or use and access to copy mechanisms."

Some sources said the government found inspiration in Norway, which charges a per capita fee that comes out of the state budget. A report by the UK Intellectual Property Office using 2009 figures shows that the per capita cost for private copy was 2.60 euros in France, with Spain ranking third at 1.70 euros. Norway ranked 11th at 0.90 euros.

Interestingly, the figure that ministry sources said would be handed over to property organizations, 42 million euros, is the result of multiplying the Spanish population by 0.90 euros.

"Thus, the government is cutting off the supply of funds to management organizations, which will now be subsidized and controlled by powers that decide how much money they get each year," says Llaneza.

Management groups are not exactly happy, either. Rafael Sánchez, spokesman for Egeda (which groups audiovisual producers), says that if the previous system was indiscriminate, this one is even more so.

Jesús Banegas, president of Ametic (technology companies and operators) adds that "if artists want to charge for alleged private copyright, they can raise the cost of their work when they put it on the market. If Spain applied a tax on everyone to pay artists... what artists? Circus artists? Why not jugglers? If the canon was absurd, this is even more absurd."