FC: More on Finnish taxi drivers and royalties for backseat music

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Subject: RE: Finnish taxi drivers must pay royalties for backseat music
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 12:53:31 -0800
From: <hartti.suomela () nokia com>
To: <declan () well com>

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:declan () well com]
Sent: 05 December, 2002 5:30 PM
To: politech () politechbot com
Subject: FC: Finnish taxi drivers must pay royalties for backseat music



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Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 20:43:52 -0500
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v548)
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Subject: Finnish taxi drivers to pay royalties for backseat music
From: Bryce Kretschmann <oaf () runbox com>
To: declan () well org
Message-Id: <D7921D00-0729-11D7-9EF7-000393BB828C () runbox com>

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




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