Europe Passes Piracy Law

luck777jojo · 03-19-2004, 06:23 PM

The European Parliament has passed the EU Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive by 330 votes to 151.
The anti-piracy directive was originally intended to cover mainly professional counterfeiters who produce knock-off Louis Vuitton handbags and fake Manchester United football jerseys, but over the course of debate on the law, it was expanded to cover intellectual property as well.
At passage, the law imposes civil penalties on counterfeiters, but amendments aimed at bringing in criminal sanctions for piracy, favoured by large media companies, were defeated, and a late-tabled amendment restricted the civil penalties to so-called professional counterfeiters, and not individuals copying music or films on an occasional basis "in good faith" for their own use.
However, while the law - sponsored by MEP Janelly Fourtou,the wife of the head of Vivendi-Universal – has not gone as far as media groups would have liked, the directive does allow companies to raid offices, homes, seize property and petition courts to freeze the bank accounts of those they believe to be engaged in piracy.
EU ministers are set to approve the directive by the end of the week, with member states given 18 months to introduce laws at the national level in keeping with the directive.
Civil liberties groups, electronic libertarian groups, as well as European Greens and the European United Left grouping in the parliament are all critical of the law, and are worried that the directive will usher in a round of RIAA-style raids similar to what has been seen in the US and Australia recently.

Source: DMeurope.com. More details here.

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03-19-2004, 06:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
luck777jojo Moderator Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 23	The European Parliament has passed the EU Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive by 330 votes to 151. The anti-piracy directive was originally intended to cover mainly professional counterfeiters who produce knock-off Louis Vuitton handbags and fake Manchester United football jerseys, but over the course of debate on the law, it was expanded to cover intellectual property as well. At passage, the law imposes civil penalties on counterfeiters, but amendments aimed at bringing in criminal sanctions for piracy, favoured by large media companies, were defeated, and a late-tabled amendment restricted the civil penalties to so-called professional counterfeiters, and not individuals copying music or films on an occasional basis "in good faith" for their own use. However, while the law - sponsored by MEP Janelly Fourtou,the wife of the head of Vivendi-Universal – has not gone as far as media groups would have liked, the directive does allow companies to raid offices, homes, seize property and petition courts to freeze the bank accounts of those they believe to be engaged in piracy. EU ministers are set to approve the directive by the end of the week, with member states given 18 months to introduce laws at the national level in keeping with the directive. Civil liberties groups, electronic libertarian groups, as well as European Greens and the European United Left grouping in the parliament are all critical of the law, and are worried that the directive will usher in a round of RIAA-style raids similar to what has been seen in the US and Australia recently. Source: DMeurope.com. More details here.