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["Matthias Spielkamp [c]" <spielkamp AT autorenwerk.de>]

Reports are slowly trickling through on this.

EDRi had already reportetd on the directive proposal July 14:
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.14/IPR

Also, Cnet had a report on August 2:

EU plan could put open sourcers in court

The European Commission has proposed a law that could allow criminal
charges to be pressed against a business using software believed to
infringe upon another company's intellectual property.

http://news.com.com/EU+plan+could+put+open+sourcers+in+court/2100-1014_3-5815584.html

For those of you who prefer German and know how to re-arrange split URLs
;) there's a short roundup at iRights.info:

http://www.irights.info/index.php?id=81&tx_ttnews[pS]=1122114803&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=70&tx_ttnews[backPid]=113&cHash=73c3707205

Best,
Matthias

David Hirst wrote:
> The EU Parliament having just seen off the Patents Directive, it seems the
> EU Commission is trying again. Wired News has reported:
> 
> Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,68418,00.html
> 
> This concerns a Directive on criminal measures aimed at ensuring the
> enforcement of intellectual property rights.
> 
> It can be downloaded from
> http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2005/com2005_0276en0
> 1.pdf
> 
> It begins with the classic recording industries background about piracy,
> equating it to drug trafficking. 
> 
> It does not even qualify its use of the word "piracy", which is a real
> problem in the Malacca Strait and elsewhere. It involves use of machine guns
> to steal ships. A quite different crime from copyright infringement.
> 
> It proposes "Member States shall ensure that all intentional infringements
> of an intellectual property right on a commercial scale, and attempting,
> aiding or abetting and inciting such infringements, are treated as criminal
> offences."
> 
> An associated proposed Council Framework decision (which need not be
> scrutinised by the EU Parliament), but decided solely by EU Ministers, also
> says:
> 
> "The Member States must ensure that the holders of intellectual property
> rights concerned, or their representatives, and experts, are allowed to
> assist the investigations carried out by joint investigation teams into the
> offences referred to in Article 3 of Directive ...././EC."
> 
> And
> 
> "Member States shall ensure that the possibility of initiating
> investigations into, or prosecution of, offences covered by Article 3 of
> Directive ...././EC are not dependent on a report or accusation made by a
> person subjected to the offence, at least if the acts were committed in the
> territory of the Member State."
> 
> With Blair today on a campaign to limit human rights against terrorism, this
> may seem a fairly small loss of liberty, but it seems to me to mean that any
> author of software that is eventually used to infringe copyright (at a
> "commercial" scale) can end up in jail. Not only that, but the "holders of
> intellectual property" are permitted to be alongside the official
> investigations.
> 
> It is barely an exaggeration to say that this gives official sanction to a
> mafia like militia. If my car is stolen, or if my house is burgled, even if
> my family is murdered, neither I nor my representative is allowed to be part
> of the police investigation. What is so special here? What do I have to do
> to become part of the mafia? Own a copyright?
> 
> I think there are many improvements that can be made to clarify this law,
> which is primarily targeted against counterfeiting. Indeed, I would suggest
> we ask its title to be changed to be against counterfeiting, where criminal
> sanctions could well be appropriate.
> 
> Regards
> 
> D
> 
> David Hirst
> 
> !-!?!-Hirst Solutions Limited
> 
> Mobile +44 7831 405443
> 
> Home/Office +44 1273 570113
> 
> Innovation Technology Sustainability
> 
> www.davidhirst.com <http://www.davidhirst.com/> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Matthias Spielkamp | Berlin | Germany

Phone +49.30.42800307 | Fax +49.721.151513691 | Mobile +49.177.7602000
spielkamp AT autorenwerk.de | www.autorenwerk.de | www.immateriblog.de
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