James Delahunty
13 Apr 2007 9:53
The European arm of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has shown its opposition for the IPRED2 directive that is being proposed to harmonize European copyright law. The group is concerned that legislators have failed to define their terms clearly and that it may harm legitimate businesses. It claims that IPRED2's new crime of "aiding, abetting and inciting" infringement will affect innovators.
Examples of those that could be effected are ISPs that refuse to block peer-to-peer file sharing networks, media sharing services like YouTube and open source coders. "With the new directive, music labels and Hollywood studios will push for the criminal prosecution of these innovators in Europe, saying their products 'incite' piracy - with EU taxpayers covering the costs." the group says on its website.
The draft specifically excludes commercial rights that are patent protected, and excludes personal use from the criminal sanctions of the bill. The draft defines "commercial scale" infringement as "any infringement of an intellectual property right committed to obtain a commercial advantage; this would exclude acts carried out by private users for personal and not for profits purposes" but the EFF fears that the definition is not good enough.
Sign the petition and "Tell the European Parliament to Fix IPRED2" at: http://www.copycrime.eu/
Source:
The Register