I'll see how they respond to the fact that there's (count 'em) one employee. If I get any bill, I'll send it to my lawyers... (yes, I've legal insurance).
Is that what it meant? I thought it meant if you'd connected two computers together. tbh - 2 monitors on one computer is rather 1980s...
Hi all,
This ProLitteris thing is not as bad as it looks at first sight.
I automatically send back any snail mail I do not recognise (just put a line through your name/address, and write "retour, unerwünscht), so did not even see the first letter (my policy for junk mail; they have to pay for the return, so they are likely to take you off their address list). I also returned the first registered letter from ProLitteris unopened in the same way, assuming it was some expensive way of trying to sell books.
After looking on the Internet, I saw that this is was an unwise thing to do. They will carry on sending registered letters, and will finally send in the bailiffs. You will also have to pay an increased fee for ignoring them.
After finding out what the organisation does, I immediately sent an email to their secretariat, explaining that I have a documentation authoring business with one employee (me), no photocopiers or multi-function printers (it seems they don't usually count scanners), and a network between two PCs for data security.
I received a rapid reply, stating that in my business branch the royalty fees only apply from 6 employees, and that they accept my email as a reply (= no fees).
There are very few branches where fees start below 6 employees (such as lawyers, who are known for ripping off anyone they get close to). You can find all the info you need at www.prolitteris.ch , which also has an English version. Here, you can find details for all the branches and the tariffs.
So not really so bad for small companies. Even relatively small companies get away with a fee of about CHF 30 per year.
Just go with the flow and make sure you reply, otherwise you could end up with lawyers' fees.
And "All other services not listed"
@eng.ch
OK, but if you look at my branch, they could have put that in there. They do not do that, because they know they could have problems with it if they try to be extreme.
Better to answer their questions and only see a problem if it occurs.
I was happy with my reply from ProLitteris .
I received the same letter in 2007 and 2008 and chucked it in the bin, thinking it was a scam. The "threatening" version arrived in January. Having had a similar experience to other posters (their website is rubbish, their letter has spelling mistakes, their information has not been updated since 2006 etc) I finally got through to someone at their office who seemed to know what they were talking about and who said that it ONLY APPLIES IF YOUR BUSINESS HAS 5 OR MORE EMPLOYEES. For anyone else who gets this questionnaire who is running a small business just fill in the part about number of employees and send them the questionnaire back. No need to add the extract from the Registre de Commerce they ask for.
Someone should offer to redo their website, update the information (especially the bit about number of employees!)and correct their mail-outs! Hope this helps.
Well, I've sent mine back stating one employee, so I guess I'll wait and see what happens
Considering their director earns more than 300'000 CHF I guess they can't afford doing such things.
ProLitteris are an absolute pain in the a..
At least Billag have to physically check if you have a TV.
How can Prolitteris get away with just sending a bill to every company??? They should have to prove that you are using copyrighted material.
There is definetly something wrong with the law.
I am not going to pay their bills!
Is fair use somehow different in Switzerland than the rest of the world?
What, exactly, are they trying to charge you for? SImply having a copy machine? Shouldn't that be handled by a relevant taxing authority?
I filled that in on my form, and still got a bill for 30CHF for this year and last year
I think it depends in what field your company is active.
If your company is IT-related they can tax you from 1 employee (yourself) or more.
However if you tell them you don't have a photocopying machine and a computer-network I think you can get exempted.
Yup seems these guys are legit, in the article is says that they collect around 45chuffs for a company of around 15 persons, below they even waiver the cost
for Pictures, Photocopy fax etc.
The Pro litteris is a legit company which collects and pays royalties for artists or authors of various categories. (so we are actually supposed to pay the bills they send or declare, that you dont have to because of company size or lack of copying/reproduction device). I have just been to their annual meeting, as my company is a member. Their goal is to make sure, that every artist or author can profit from what they publish. Of course it's like with most companies, the boss gets the most. So a fair amount of the money we pay, goes to the account of Mr. Hefti, the 'manager' of Pro litteris (and another big part finances the appetizers at the annual meeting, I figured). This is a sad thing. Also very sad and/or stupid is the fact, that Pro litteris appears like a dubious, untrustworthy company. They really have to give their image a boost.
Coming from the other side (im working for a publisher and write myself), I'm really happy, they exist, because they make sure, our publishing company can pay the authors for their work.
So please do pay, because in the digital ages, publishers of print media (like our company, which publishes drama plays) will cease to exist soon.
And who the hell is "I"? Whoever you are or claim to be, popping up in a long dead thread is the type of things people who want to sell something or otherwise have a vested interest do, so people should bear that in mind when considering what you say.
Well, as I said, i work for a drama publishers company and we are members of pro litteris. Nothing to sell, only if you want a play in swiss german (which i highly doubt). I just wanted to share my knowledge about them. I never say it was a good company or a bad one. I simply stated, that they are legit (if they weren't, my company wouldn't be a member) and that i, as an artist, am happy if people pay them, because i like earning money for what i write. Same as everyone in this line of business. Thanks "user"
Ironic, I just posted a reply here. One Zurich based moderator flagged my post as spam and deleted it.
Let me be clear: I recon what martin34 stated here. If your company is IT-related, you don't do any copyright related business, you are obligated to pay this tax because you hardly have computer network and a scanner / printer.
And the reason is that you have the technical possibility to copy an art or book or whatever copyright material. In another word, you have to pay because presumption of guilty.
It looks like this forum does not welcome opinions.
Have fun reading some google map reviews: https://goo.gl/maps/ASno9mnagqefu1eBA
And rightly so, you are digging up old threads, this one almost 10 years old, and adding a load of waffle.
Abd I wouldn’t use google if my life depended on it. They are truly evil.
10 years old the TV / Radio fees isn't called Serafe. there's nothing old under the sun, some 10 years old some others 1000 years old.. As far as I can tell the connected network device tax on scanner is relatively new.