Digital rights
May 25, 2011
The European Commission, in a statement published on its website on Tuesday, has outlined new plans to further unify regulations concerning intellectual property and rules for the enforcement of anti-piracy laws, particularly for digital reproductions of music and films, and software.
"Ensuring the right level of protection of intellectual property rights in the single market is essential for Europe's economy," said Michel Barnier, the EU's internal markets commissioner.
The aim, he said, was to strike the "right balance" between protecting intellectual property and enabling citizens' access to cultural content.
Despite the single European Union market, some licensing agreements, like music distribution, are negotiated on a national basis. This prevents some digital music services from being able to offer all their products across the entire 27-member bloc. Apple's iTunes, for example, is available in some of the EU's member states, including the UK, France and Germany, but not in others, such as Slovenia and Estonia.
The Commission added that it would be working to change this system later this year by creating "a legal framework for the efficient multi-territorial collective management of copyright, in particular in the music sector."
Combating piracy
The Commission has also indicated that while it wants to make it easier for digital products to be sold across the European Union, it will also take stronger measures to combat piracy. Unauthorized distribution has "cost the European music, movie, TV and software industry 10 billion euros ($14 billion) and more than 185,000 jobs in 2008 alone," according to the Commission's statement.
As a way to counter piracy, EU officials have proposed an expansion of powers for the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy.
The European Commission, in a document leaked to the Reuters and dated April 13, 2011, suggests that European Internet service providers should have a larger role in cracking down on digital piracy.
"The Commission will propose amendments to the [Intellectual Property Rights] Enforcement Directive in order to create a framework allowing, in particular, combating infringements of IPRs via the Internet more effectively," the document reportedly said.
"These amendments should tackle the infringements at their source and, to that end, foster cooperation of intermediaries, such as Internet service providers," it added.
That 2004 directive, the European Commission said Tuesday, will be revised in 2012 to "meet the specific challenges of the digital environment."
Internet advocacy groups not satisfied
Some European digital rights groups are not satisfied with the proposed increase in legal crackdowns on online media. Many have argued that these measures are far too draconian and would in fact impede innovation rather than encourage it.
"The goal of EU authorities is to use technical means to block communications and restrict users' access in the name of enforcing an obsolete vision of copyright," Jeremie Zimmermann, spokesperson for Paris-based Internet advocacy group La Quadrature du Net, said in a statement Tuesday.
"Such a scheme would lead to the establishment of a censorship infrastructure by online actors, technically similar to those currently used in authoritarian states," he added. "In the process, freedom of communication, privacy as well as the right to a fair trial would inevitably be undermined."
Joe McNamee, of the Brussels-based non-profit European Digital Rights, agreed with this sentiment. His group issued a 22-page "shadow report," on Tuesday, detailing suggestions on the approach the EU should take when it comes to intellectual property law reform.
The paper said the EU should first collect data on the role of intellectual property rights in the digital economy before creating measures that potentially could infringe on people's right to privacy or lead to disproportionate enforcement measures.
"Those measures put at risk in a very clear, tangible fashion the very freedoms which the Internet was supposed to afford - greater freedom of expression and greater means for democratic expression, buffeted by a respect for privacy," the group said.
Author: Cyrus Farivar
Editor: Sean Sinico