The European Union is set to impose a levy printers and printer consumerables after a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The judgement follows a case in the German Court of Justice in which publisher VG Wort took action against Canon, Epson, Fujitsu, HP, Kyocera and Xerox, demanding compensation for the printing of published works on their equipment.
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The German Court of Justice requested the ECJ to provide a clarification in the case on points of EU law.
In the ruling, out today, the ECJ stated: "It is open to the member states to put in place a system in which fair compensation is paid by the persons in possession of a device contributing, in a non-autonomous manner, to the single process of reproduction of the protected work or other subject-matter on the given medium."
The ECJ partly justified its decision on the basis of a European Council meeting in June 1994 regarding the fostering of the internal market for new products and services.
However, the ECJ also claims that its decision was informed by the need for new laws to tackle the new means by which copyrights could be broken - rather than interpretation of existing laws.
"While no new concepts for the protection of intellectual property are needed, the current law on copyright and related rights should be adapted and supplemented to respond adequately to economic realities such as new forms of exploitation," states the judgement.
It continues: "In certain cases of exceptions or limitations, rights holders should receive fair compensation to compensate them adequately for the use made of their protected works or other subject-matter."
It goes on to suggest a bureaucratic process by which rights holders ought to be compensated.
The surprise decision by the ECJ will be binding across the EU and will open up printer companies to a slew of compensation claims from "copyright holders".
Printer makers, meanwhile, may be forced to raise the prices of their products or to withdraw from Europe entirely. It also raise the prospect of buyers sourcing printers from outside the EU to avoid the copyright levy.
