Germany: Copyright laws could jack up PC prices

Hertha Däubler-Gmelin, Germany's federal secretary of justice, has confirmed rumors that because of new copyright laws, taxes on PCs, CD-burners, printers, hard drives and ISDN systems are planned, as all these products could be used to copy data. Analysts are expecting resulting price increases of about 30 percent, much to the dismay of users, tech execs and politicians.

Written by ZDNET Editors, Contributor Sept. 6, 2000 at 5:00 p.m. PT

Hertha Däubler-Gmelin, Germany's federal secretary of justice, has confirmed rumors that because of new copyright laws, taxes on PCs, CD-burners, printers, hard drives and ISDN systems are planned, as all these products could be used to copy data. Analysts are expecting resulting price increases of about 30 percent, much to the dismay of users, tech execs and politicians. Full story (in German). -- ZDNet Germany

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Germany: Copyright laws could jack up PC prices

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