[Ecommerce] A level playing field for the enforcement of IPR in Europe

[Manon Anne Ress]

Any reactions regarding the Proposal to create a "level playing field 
for the enforcement of intellectual property rights in different EU 
countries"?
Manon

http://www.europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/144|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=
Commission proposes Directive to bolster the fight against piracy and 
counterfeiting

The proposal follows a "TRIPs plus" approach. The TRIPs Agreement 
provides for minimum provisions on enforcement to be applied in all the 
EU Member States. The proposed Directive would go beyond those minimum 
provisions with the following supplementary ones:

banning machinery used to forge security devices which can make 
consumers think goods are authentic when they are not

establishing the right for trade associations and collecting societies 
(as well as right holders directly) to initiate legal proceedings

giving judicial authorities the power to force those selling pirated or 
counterfeit goods to disclose information on where the goods come from, 
on quantities produced delivered and ordered and on prices, as well as 
to identify people involved in production and distribution networks

publication of judgements

withdrawal, at the offender's expense, of infringing goods put on the 
market.

Quote from the FAQ:
Will this Directive impede the development of the internet, by for 
example allowing injunctions to be served on service providers?
SNIP
In the case of Internet service providers (ISPs, who provide Internet 
access services rather than P2P networks per se e.g. Yahoo, AOL), it is 
already established practice in the EU that, once informed of the 
presence of illegal material, ISPs disconnect illegal web sites (such as 
those that disseminate child pornography, racist material etc). There is 
therefore no reason why the same principle cannot apply to IPR 
infringements.
end of quote

The following link to the DG Internal Market includes the proposal, 
today's press release,FAQ and background documentation:

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/intprop/news/index.htm

-- 
Manon Anne Ress
Consumer Project on Technology
www.cptech.org
PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176