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[DMCA-Activists] EU Intellectual Property Enforcement Directive
From: |
Seth Johnson |
Subject: |
[DMCA-Activists] EU Intellectual Property Enforcement Directive |
Date: |
Wed, 04 Feb 2004 09:21:29 -0500 |
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [prep-l] EU intellectual property Enforcement Directive
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 20:43:36 +0100
From: Alan T. <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden
The Irish government believes that the intellectual property area is ripe
for some easy achievements during their term as the presidency of the EU.
This is bad news both on the Enforcement Dirtective (heabily pushed by the
MPAA/IFPI/BSA etc) and also on the Software Patents question. The
following introduction is by Teresa Hackett from the Irish Free Software
Organization. She has also worked extensively for the libraries
organization EBLIDA.
a.
Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive
European Commission Proposal for a Directive on the enforcement on
intellectual property rights
What is the IPR Directive?
The EU copyright Directive 2001 set out the legal framework for copyright
and related rights in EU member states. The IPR Directive 2003 aims to
harmonise the legislation of EU member states with regard to the
enforcement of intellectual property rights.
The Commission claims that the proposal maintains a balance between
helping rightholders to defend their rights and protecting users from
unfair litigation, but it goes further than international obligations
under TRIPS. Even before the scope of the proposal was widened
significantly by the European Parliament in November 2003, this claim was
hotly disputed.
Like it's predecessor, the IPR Directive has attracted controversary and
criticism from politicians, IPR academics and a wide range of civil
society interests including researchers, open source software movement,
libraries, disability and consumer groups. The proposed Directive:
* affects everyone. Technical protection measures can be attached to
all digital content and circumvention in all cases is illegal - there are
no exceptions. The terms of the proposal are not aimed at pirates and
counterfeiters, but cover any infringement of copyright by anyone,
including small scale non-commercial activities which do not harm the
rightholder. European citizens will be liable for all infringing
activities, however insignificant or innocuous, and are faced with civil
sanctions and penalties.
* goes further than international agreements, so-called "TRIPS plus"
elements.
* fails the subsidiarity test. Why is the Commission not following
the principle of subsidiarity and is instead proposing detailed changes to
the legal procedures of member states?
* applies the "nuclear weapons" of the law Europe-wide. Anton Piller
orders, which involves the seizure of documents and equipment, and the
associated Mareva order, which allows for the freezing of bank accounts,
have been termed the "nuclear weapons" of the law. The Directive does not
respect the checks and balances developed by the courts in their use.
What does the proposed Directive mean?
* Individual users of peer-to-peer software would face sanctions.
* The reverse engineering of software products in order to produce
competing, compatible products would be subject to sanctions. This would
greatly affect the free software movement and the growing use of open
source software.
* Competition and legitimate trade would be stifled by making it
impossible for small companies to produce goods compatible with products
such as Sony PlayStation or Microsoft Windows without paying a licence
fee. It would have severe implications for choice, competition and the
monopoly position of the dominant players.
* ISPs could face limitless injunctions, equipment seizures and
requests for damages. They could also be ordered to disclose customer
names, block content or undertake surveillance.
* Intermediaries, such as universities, would be required to police
their networks as they could be held liable for content distributed over
their networks.
* Book readers for the blind could become illegal because they
circumvent copy protection by changing the format.
Where is the Directive in the legislative process?
You can follow the legislative process here.
The Directive is entering a crucial stage when it goes to a vote in the
European Parliament in February 2004, during the Irish Presidency of the
European Union.
The European Commission first issued its legislative proposal on
31.01.2003. It was sent to the Council of the European Union and the
European Parliament for approval.
The Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (JURI) at the
European Parliament discussed the proposal in November 2003. Because of
the 200+ amendments tabled by members of JURI, the rapporteur Mme Fourtou,
issued a compromise set of amendments, which the Committee approved.
JURI extended the scope of the proposal to all infringements, not just
commercial infringements. As a corollary, criminal sanctions were replaced
by civil sanctions and efforts were made to safeguard competition. These
amendments will go to a plenary vote of the European Parliament, expected
9 February 2004.
However, it is expected that amendments to re-introduce criminal sanctions
will be tabled for the vote in plenary in February 2004. It is vitally
important that any such amendments are defeated, especially if the scope
of the Directive is extended.
In the meantime, the Council will discuss the proposal in January 2004 and
it is possible that they will approve JURI's amendments.
A campaign to lobby MEPs will be launched in January 2004. Watch this
space!
Text of the IP enforcement proposal
Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on
Measures and Procedures to Ensure the Enforcement of Intellectual Property
Rights COM (2003) 46 final, January 30, 2003
http://europa.eu.int/cgi-bin/eur-lex/udl.pl?REQUEST=Service-Sear...
FAQs on the IP enforcement proposal
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/
guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=MEMO/03/20|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=
Text of copyright Directive (aka EUCD) Directive 2001/29/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation
of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information
society
http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/
sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnum....
The Draft IP Enforcement Directive - a threat to Competition and to
Liberty Ross Anderson, Foundation for Information Policy Research
http://www.fipr.org/copyright/draft-ipr-enforce.html
Europe's 'DMCA on steroids' gets go-ahead. 27 November 2003 Matthew
Broersma, ZDNet UK
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,39118164,00.htm
New Euro law could make criminals of us all. 5 August 2003 Rupert
Goodwins, ZDNet UK
http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/rupertgoodwins/0,39020691,39115479-2,00.htm
Procedures and Remedies for Enforcing IPRs: the European Commission's
proposed Directive Cornish et al. E.I.P.R. 2003, 25(10), 447-449
Teresa Hackett
January 2004
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