HP 2015 Annual Report Download - page 170

Table of Contents
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printers. On December 22, 2004, the court held that HP is liable for payments regarding all printers using ASCII code sold in Germany but did not determine
the amount payable per unit. HP appealed this decision in January 2005 to the Stuttgart Court of Appeals. On May 11, 2005, the Stuttgart Court of Appeals
issued a decision confirming that levies are due. On June 6, 2005, HP filed an appeal to the German Federal Supreme Court in Karlsruhe. On December 6,
2007, the German Federal Supreme Court issued a judgment that printers are not subject to levies under existing law. VG Wort appealed the decision by
filing a claim with the German Federal Constitutional Court challenging the ruling that printers are not subject to levies. On September 21, 2010, the
Constitutional Court published a decision holding that the German Federal Supreme Court erred by not referring questions on interpretation of German
copyright law to the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") and therefore revoked the German Federal Supreme Court decision and remitted the
matter to it. On July 21, 2011, the German Federal Supreme Court stayed the proceedings and referred several questions to the CJEU with regard to the
interpretation of the European Copyright Directive. On June 27, 2013, the CJEU issued its decision responding to those questions. The German Federal
Supreme Court subsequently scheduled a joint hearing on this matter with other cases relating to reprographic levies on printers and PCs that was held on
October 31, 2013. The German Federal Supreme Court issued a decision on July 3, 2014 partially granting the claim of VG Wort. The German Federal
Supreme Court decision provides that levies are due where the printer is used with a PC to make permitted reprographic copies in a single process under the
control of the same person, but no levies are due on a printer for reprographic copies made with a "scanner-PC-printer" product chain. The case has been
remitted to the Stuttgart Civil Court to assess the amount to be paid per printer unit. The industry association BITKOM and VG Wort signed a settlement
agreement defining the levies due on printers sold in Germany from 2001-2007. HP opted to join the settlement agreement on August 10, 2015 and paid
€68.2 million (approximately $72.0 million) in levies, excluding value added taxes, due as a result of such settlement by November 30, 2015.
In September 2003, VG Wort filed a lawsuit against Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH ("Fujitsu") in the Munich Civil Court in Munich, Germany
seeking to impose levies on PCs. This is an industry test case in Germany, and HP has agreed not to object to the delay if VG Wort sues HP for such levies on
PCs following a final decision against Fujitsu. On December 23, 2004, the Munich Civil Court held that PCs are subject to a levy and that Fujitsu must pay
€12 plus compound interest for each PC sold in Germany since March 2001. Fujitsu appealed this decision in January 2005 to the Munich Court of Appeals.
On December 15, 2005, the Munich Court of Appeals affirmed the Munich Civil Court decision. Fujitsu filed an appeal with the German Federal Supreme
Court in February 2006. On October 2, 2008, the German Federal Supreme Court issued a judgment that PCs were not photocopiers within the meaning of the
German copyright law that was in effect until December 31, 2007 and, therefore, were not subject to the levies on photocopiers established by that law. VG
Wort subsequently filed a claim with the German Federal Constitutional Court challenging that ruling. In January 2011, the Constitutional Court published a
decision holding that the German Federal Supreme Court decision was inconsistent with the German Constitution and revoking the German Federal Supreme
Court decision. The Constitutional Court also remitted the matter to the German Federal Supreme Court for further action. On July 21, 2011, the German
Federal Supreme Court stayed the proceedings and referred several questions to the CJEU with regard to the interpretation of the European Copyright
Directive. On June 27, 2013, the CJEU issued its decision responding to those questions. The German Federal Supreme Court subsequently scheduled a joint
hearing on that matter with other cases relating to reprographic levies on printers that was held on October 31, 2013. The
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Source: HP INC, 10-K, December 16, 2015 Powered by Morningstar® Document Research℠
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