Court: private copying levy was too high

In 2013 and 2014, the private copying levy was too high, the court in The Hague ruled. In determining the amount of the levy, alleged damage from downloading was included, but that should not have been allowed, according to the court.

The fact that the damage from downloading from an illegal source was included was in violation of the legal prohibition of arbitrariness, the court writes in the judgment published by Computerworld. However, it is unclear what the amount of the private copying levy should have been, and whether the companies that filed the lawsuit can reclaim excess money: a follow-up case should provide a definitive answer.

The case concerned the private copying levy from 2013 and 2014. The private copying levy has already been reduced this year, due to the download ban that came into effect last April. As a result, the damage from illegal downloading no longer needs to be included in determining the amount of the private copying levy. This means that the levy on some devices has been halved: for example, 6.05 euros home copy levy had to be paid on a PC, where it is currently 3.50 euros.

The case was brought by Acer, HP, Dell, Imation and Nokia, among others. They actually wanted to see the private copying levy completely off the table, but the judge does not agree.