MUMBAI: UKs Music Business Group (MBG) is miffed at the government over the proposal of legalizing the transfer of music from CDs to MP3 players without paying a levy. Apparently, the music industry on the contrary has proposed a tax on the devices that might play transferred music, principally MP3 players.

The Music Business Group (MBG) is an umbrella group of trade bodies representing music managers, songwriters, publishers and performers. It comprises organizations like BPI, AIM and MCPS-PRS. According to reports, it has rejected plans contained in a consultation document issued by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) to allow the transfer without any extra charge being levied. It says that levy, or license, whether to be set or not is to be decided by the industry after negotiations and not by the government.UK creators and right holders are legally entitled to benefit from this value. At present, this value is enjoyed by both consumers and technology companies while creators and right holders are effectively excluded from any value.

"Enormous value is derived from the transferability of music," it said in its submission. "Last year alone, over 20 million MP3-capable portable devices were sold in the UK, and over 90 percent of music on the average MP3 player is music that has been copied."

The Government in its proposal said that it does not believe that the levy-free exemption would harm the industry or break the European Union laws. The EU Copyright Directive gives countries two options on private copying. They can ban it or they can allow it on condition that they introduce a system that ensures "fair compensation for rights holders. It said that it was a "fair balance between the interests of consumers and those of right holders". And the government claims that the proposal is a fair balance between the interests of consumers and those of right holders".

The Government pointed to the Copyright Directive's introductory wording that "in certain situations, where the prejudice to the right holder would be minimal, no obligation for payment may arise."

The consultation said: "The exception proposed in this paper is very narrow in scope and therefore, we consider that there would be no obligation for payment under the Copyright Directive for a limited format shifting exception, as there is no significant harm to the right holder which would need to be compensated."