French tablet manufacturer Archos is none too pleased with the French government's move towards applying a Private Copy tax to tablets running Android and iOS. In France, the controversial "Copie Privée" levy is applied to sales of blank writeable media, under the assumption that it'll be used to infringe copyright. Some 75 percent of the funds brought in are then distributed to starving French writers, producers and performers.
Now the French government is considering imposing the levy on tablet computers with more than 40GB of on-board storage, which could lead to tablet prices increasing by €12.
This isn't as strange as it might sound. Personal media players and multimedia-capable phones are already subject to the levy, so this could be seen as eliminating a loophole for similar but currently untaxed devices. What is odd, though, is that Windows 7 tablets won't be taxed. This is all down to the very specific language used to determine what is and isn't a mobile device. Android tablets apparently fit the description of being "provided with an operating system for mobile devices", while Windows is considered a desktop OS even when it's running on a tablet of the same size.
Archos is understandably peeved, and claims that this unfairly targets French tablet manufacturers for extra taxation. [via Geek.com]
France considering tablet tax, Windows bizarrely excluded posted originally by Android Central
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