James Delahunty
7 Aug 2005 20:44
A new directive being pushed by the European Commission could criminalise indirect copyright infringement in the EU, with many similarities to the "MGM vs. Grokster" case in the U.S. If adopted, it would go further than the act of uploading or downloading copyrighted content on P2P networks and would criminalise aiding or inciting copyright infringement. In some cases, operating P2P services could be considered a criminal offence.
"The problem here is some activities, such as the creation of software, can be used for legal and illegal purposes, as is the case with Grokster," says Urs Gasser, professor of law at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. "It gets really messy, because it is unclear what is legal or not legal, and it is problematic to operate with such abstract terms."
The same fears are now spreading through Europe that spread through the United States during the MGM vs. Grokster case. Many believe that this could seriously damage technological innovation in the EU. For example, a project could be abandoned because in future a certain aspect of it could be adopted by pirates, which could then leave the owners/operators liable for that copyright infringement by the third parties.
Another big concern is the differences there will be interpreting this legislation across the European Union. Some EU states could have different interpretations of what exactly "inciting" piracy could be. For example, one state may believe that advertisements that say, "Download all the movies you want", are inciting copyright infringement, whereas other states might not agree that the advertisement is enough to hold the owners liable for copyright infringement by third parties.
This new directive also changes the penalties for piracy by "criminal organisations". The maximum prison term could be up to four years and fines up to €300,000.
Source:
Wired