German Chancellor Angela Merkel has met with heads of the international recording industry in Berlin to hear their concerns and suggestions regarding music piracy in Germany. The leaders of the recording industry urged the Chancellor to ensure that the industry had the tools it needed to combat piracy, the "epidemic" of CD-R burning be tackled and ISPs be engaged in the fight against Internet piracy.
German music sales have dropped a massive 50% since 2000. The industry blames this huge drop mostly on CD-R burning and Internet piracy. "The international recording industry has now taken its concerns about the state of the German music market to the highest political level in Europe. We left the meeting appreciative of the fact that the Chancellor understood the nature of the problems we are facing and is willing to play a role in seeking a solution to them," IFPI Chairman and CEO, John Kennedy, said.
He added: "If the German government acts now, we are confident that the German music industry could reverse the decline and be viable again in three to five years." Another great reason to meet with Chancellor Merkel however is the fact that she also is the President of the European Council and the G8. This extra political advantage is seen in what the recording industry suggests Merkel call the German government to do:
Source:
Press Release
He added: "If the German government acts now, we are confident that the German music industry could reverse the decline and be viable again in three to five years." Another great reason to meet with Chancellor Merkel however is the fact that she also is the President of the European Council and the G8. This extra political advantage is seen in what the recording industry suggests Merkel call the German government to do:
- Introduce an obligation on ISPs to terminate service to subscribers abusing the service to make infringing content available
- Permit CD burning only from own legally purchased original and prohibiting copying by third parties
- Improve the German draft law implementing the EU Enforcement Directive to ensure proper tools to fight piracy
- Ensure that the EU plays an active role in the WTO case against China on Intellectual Property enforcement and market access
- Urge the Czech government to clean up the huge pirate markets on the Czech-German border
- Support an improvement in the length of the EU term of protection on sound recordings to match the level of protection provided in the U.S.
Source:
Press Release
