Music industry tells Apple: Pay up or face court

Apple looks to be in trouble in France after failing to pay dues, levied by a French governmental body, to compensate the music industry for unauthorised copying.

Hardware maker Apple hasn't coughed up for a year and a half for the "private copy licence fee" that it owes for the hard disks on its iPod digital music player. Now Sorecop (Société pour la rémunération de la copie privée sonore) - in charge of collecting the fees - is threatening to take Apple to court.

Apple, which has headed up the legal digital-music explosion with its iTunes store, could see its reputation seriously tarnished across the channel as a result of the wrangling. According to French daily Les Échos, Apple is refusing to pay its dues for private copying, which is a 'tax' imposed on everyday blank media such as CDs and DVDs as well as on hard disks, whether removable or not - like those found on the iPod.

The Brun Buisson commission, charged by the Jospin government with setting the private-copying tariffs for blank media, created the licence fee for "integrated hard disks" on 4 July, 2002. Unlike removable media - blank CDs, DVDs and memory cards, which have been taxed since January 2001 - this new "tax" isn't fixed in relation to the number of hours that can be recorded - it's set according to storage capabilities.

As a result of the laws, for its MP3 players with a capacity of 10, 20 and 40Gb, Apple should pay a levy of €10, €15 and €20 respectively - dues that it has neglected to pay for a year and a half.

Sorecop, the body in charge of collecting the monies, has highlighted that some sectors can be exempt - for example, audiovisual communication companies. Makers of hard disks, however, aren't exempt from the tax, which brought in €150m in 2003.

When contacted by silicon.com's French sister site, ZDNet France, Apple declined to comment on the matter. Sorecop, on the other hand, said it's ready to get in the ring with Apple to defend its rights. "If the matter of the monies due isn't settled, [we] will have no choice but to go to the courts immediately in order to ensure the rights of artists, composers and the recording industry are respected," the organisation told Les Échos.

Estelle Dumout writes for ZDNet France