[Ecommerce] FYI: EU Directive on the Enforcement of IP webpage

[Manon Anne Ress]

Back in January I asked if there were any reactions regarding the 
Proposal to create a "level playing field for the enforcement of 
intellectual property rights in different EU countries"?
See Draft: 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/indprop/piracy/index.htm

I just received Ross Anderson (FIPR) interesting paper/webpage on the topic:
http://www.fipr.org/copyright/draft-ipr-enforce.html

QUOTE:
The EU's draft Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property 
rights sets out to make it dramatically easier to enforce copyrights, 
patents, and trademarks in Europe, and to punish people who tamper with 
technical mechanisms designed to prevent copying or counterfeiting. The 
directive has been welcomed by the music and film industries. But it 
divides the computer industry - Microsoft is for, while Sun is against - 
and the telecomms industry is strongly opposed. Supermarkets also stand 
to lose. Resistance is building, for example in the European press. 
Online liberties are also at risk, as well as commercial interests.
END OF QUOTE

In the paper, Ross Anderson defines the main issues related to the 
Internet, software and competition, universities/libraries and the 
disabled, culture, privacy and justice.  He also provides technical 
details and many examples (in copyright and trademarks) of possible 
impact of the draft Directive.

According to Ross Anderson, the commission accepts that the draft is
defective and will need major rewriting.  However, "it is unlikely that 
the Commission will agree to drop the whole thing, at least right now, 
as they have been working on it for three years since an earlier working 
document".

If you're looking for info on the topic, you should also look at
The EUCD and the DMCA in 2003: How Legal Protection for Technological
Measures is shaping Consumers’ and Copyright Owners’ Digital Rights
– Gwen Hinze
http://www.upgrade-cepis.org/issues/2003/3/up4-3Hinze.pdf
This paper reviews the United States’ experience under the Digital 
Millennium Copyright Act and contends that Member States’ implementation 
legislation should include exceptions permitting circumvention for 
lawful uses and socially valuable activities. It also analyses a new 
technological protection regime contemplated by the 2003 draft of the 
European Union.
-- 
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