--- Subject: RE: Finnish taxi drivers must pay royalties for backseat music Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 12:53:31 -0800 From: <hartti.suomelaat_private> To: <declanat_private> Hi Declan, Some additions based on story in Helsingin Sanomat (biggest newspaper in Finland) website (http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/arkisto/juttu.asp?id=20021204KO3) and translated freely by a layman (undersigned). Does not provide much extra insight though... The ruling applies to CDs, cassettes and radio play. The money is paid to Teosto (www.teosto.fi) which collects royalty payments in Finalnd and distributes the money to copyright holders. The yearly fare is 22 euros (approximately 22 USD). The sum was set higher (40 euros) in lower courts but supreme court lowered the sum because playing music does not affect the way a customer selects a taxi cab. Also the taxi trips are usually short and there are only a limited number of customers in the taxi at the same time. The ruling is based on the Finnish copyright law which states that playing music is public even if the "listeners" is closed but the potential listener base is large and "the act" is involved in gainful employment. (NOTE. this paragraph is very rough and probably I am using misleading terminology, read better explanation at http://www.teosto.fi/teosto/webpages.nsf/Frames?ReadForm&English) The ruling in supreme court was based on a vote (7-4). The four dismissal-voters said that the main objective of a passenger is to get a ride. The make and model of the car, the features of the car, and the possiblity of listening to music during the ride are secondary to the contract and the passenger cannot, or does not want to influence those when reserving a cab. The 4 minority voters think that the music has most impact to the driver feeling more happy during the long waits. The passengers might even want to turn off the radio. Therefore the (monetary) benefit of the music play to the driver is debatable. In this light the characteristics of the copyright law are not fulfilled. (sidenote: in Finland busses, aerobics classes, gyms, etc. need to pay royalties - a yearly/monthly fee - for the music they play. A long list in Finnish available at http://www.teosto.fi/teosto/webpages.nsf/7d7cb8d7c8ceffa0c22565c9004cf780/5fd80a65f6543503c22569bd004d9e3b!OpenDocument) br, Hartti -----Original Message----- From: ext Declan McCullagh [mailto:declanat_private] Sent: 05 December, 2002 5:30 PM To: politechat_private Subject: FC: Finnish taxi drivers must pay royalties for backseat music --- Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 20:43:52 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v548) Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=Apple-Mail-4-529490129 Subject: Finnish taxi drivers to pay royalties for backseat music From: Bryce Kretschmann <oafat_private> To: declanat_private Message-Id: <D7921D00-0729-11D7-9EF7-000393BB828Cat_private> Hi, Declan, Annanova put this up a couple hours ago, quoting no source. Lauri Luotonen does appear to be chairman of the Helsinki Taxi Driver's Association, but I've not been able to find free Finnish-English machine translation, so this is it. Finnish taxi drivers to pay royalties for backseat music Finland's Supreme Court has ruled taxi drivers must pay royalty fees if they play music in their car while a customer is in the backseat. The order even applies to the radio. A case, based on one driver's refusal to pay, is likely to set a precedent for the 9,500 cab drivers in the country. Under the ruling, a cab driver in Finland must pay £14 annually for playing music while transporting a fare. Lauri Luotonen, chairman of the Helsinki Taxi Drivers' Association, says the ruling is likely to force most drivers to keep their radios off. Recently, two Finnish churches refused to pay royalties to the country's copyright society for the performance of Christmas hymns. The congregations won their case in a district court, but the society has appealed. Story filed: 17:43 Tuesday 3rd December 2002 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q\clan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q\clan -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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