More on EU Commission roadmap for A Single Market for Intellectual Property Rights

In the blog post EU Commission roadmap: A Single Market for Intellectual Property Rights, we looked at the issues listed in the communication 24.5.2011 COM(2011) 287 (available in 22 language versions).


Overviews

For those who want overviews of the strategy proposal and related questions, the European Commission published material for journalists and the wider public on the day.

The main introduction is the press release Commission sets out ”blueprint” for Intellectual Property Rights to boost creativity and innovation (IP/11/630, 22 languages).

In addition, there are two memos in English: Intellectual Property Strategy – Frequently Asked Questions (MEMO/11/332) with ongoing and planned initiatives to strengthen protection of copyright and industrial rights, and Orphan Works – Frequently Asked Questions (MEMO/11/333), which deals with works under copyright but without known holders, as well as with out-of-commerce books.

You find more information through the web page Internal Market > Protection of rights and further to Copyright, Industrial property and Enforcement of rights, especially if you use the links on the pages.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU digital policy and law

P.S. 1: For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes our digital future and online freedoms. More than 900 euroblogs are aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

P.S. 2: The @Avaaz petition for the European Parliament (and the national parliaments) to reject #ACTA has already been signed by 2,316,523 netizens, but more are welcome until the anti-piracy treaty has been officially buried.

EU Commission roadmap: A Single Market for Intellectual Property Rights

We started exploring the intellectual property rights (IPR) agenda of the European Commission here and here.

We arrived at the Commission's roadmap or strategy paper, published last spring:

A Single Market for Intellectual Property Rights: Boosting creativity and innovation to provide economic growth, high quality jobs and first class products and services in Europe; Brussels, 24.5.2011 COM(2011) 287 final (25 pages)

The communication is available in 22 EU languages.


Overview


The Contents offer an overview of the multitude of issues related to copyright and other intellectual property rights on the agenda of the EU Commission and the other institutions. I present the headlines (but without page numbering):

1. INTRODUCTION
2. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR A SINGLE MARKET FOR IPR
3. KEY POLICY INITIATIVES TO MEET THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
3.1. Reform of the patent system in Europe and accompanying measures
3.1.1. A unitary patent protection
3.1.2. A unified patent litigation system
3.1.3. An IPR valorisation instrument
3.2. Modernisation of the trade mark system in Europe
3.3. Creation of a comprehensive framework for copyright in the digital single market
3.3.1. European copyright governance and management
3.3.2. Technology and database management
3.3.3. User-generated content
3.3.4. Private copying levies
3.3.5. Access to Europe's cultural heritage and fostering media plurality
3.3.6. Performers' rights
3.3.7. Audiovisual works
3.3.8. Artists' resale right
3.4. The issue of complementary protection of intangible assets
3.4.1. Trade secrets and parasitic copies
3.4.2. Non-agricultural geographical indications
3.5. Enhanced fight against counterfeiting and piracy
3.5.1. Public awareness
3.5.2. A more sustainable structure for the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy and new tasks
3.5.3. A review of the IPR Enforcement Directive
3.6. The international dimension of IPR
3.6.1. Multilateral initiatives, including co-ordination with international organisations
3.6.2. Bilateral negotiation and co-operation on IP protection with third countries
3.6.3. Enhanced IPR protection and enforcement at the EU border
4. CONCLUSIONS

The strategy is well documented and thus a valuable source for those who want to follow individual issues.

Naturally, matters have moved on since May 2011. We are going to return to the digital single market, or the single market for intellectual property rights, in future blog posts.



Ralf Grahn


P.S. For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes our digital future and online freedoms. More than 900 euroblogs are aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

I work as a speaker on EU digital policy and law.

ACTA parties - Let them eat (humble) pie

The blatant attempted robbery of citizens' digital rights by the European Union and its Member States, Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Mexican States, the Kingdom of Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Singapore, the Swiss Confederation and the United States of America, through the Anti-Counterfeiting (and much more) Trade Agreement ACTA, deserves generous helpings of humble pie on their menu.

They must renounce short-circuiting open and democratic policy and law making through closed trade negotiations. If vigilant citizens prevented the actual theft of net freedoms, the process was wrong and the intent was there. The failure is, in a benign light, perhaps a mitigating circumstance.

Plat du jour: Let them eat (humble) pie, by jettisoning ACTA and wiping the slate clean by converting to democratic ways.

Just des(s)erts: Only then can they make a fresh start with regard to copyright and other issues of intellectual property, on parole but under the watchful eyes of citizens.

Until this has happened, I suggest that citizens worldwide keep following #ACTA on Twitter to prevent any relapse.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU digital policy and law

P.S. For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes our digital future and online freedoms. More than 900 euroblogs are aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

EU intellectual property rights (IPR) agenda

The high-running Twitter discussion about #ACTA, the Avaaz online petition for rejection of the Anti-Counterfeiting (and much more) Trade Agreement and the wave of demonstrations all over Europe merit some facts and discussion about the IPR agenda of the EU Commission.

External and internal obligations walk hand in hand, although EU-wide or national rules are sometimes alternatives.

Here are some bare bones for a starter.


Commission Work Programme 2012

In the blog post European Commission Work Programme 2012: Internal market and services we looked at the CWP proper 15.11.2011 COM(2011) 777 final (Volume 1/2) as well as the more substantive Annex to the CWP 2012 (Volume 2/2).

In the CWP Annex we found the following relevant actions planned for this year. The headlines have been modified, but the added texts are quotes.


Online music

82 Legislative proposal on collective rights management: Music rights – music online

The proposed instrument will have a double focus: first, a general level of governance and transparency to apply to all collecting societies; and second, specific rules aimed at licensing of online music in order to foster the digital single market and provide more cross-border services to customers across the EU. (1st quarter 2012

IPRED revision

88 Enforcement of intellectual property rights – adaptation of the Directive 2004/48 known as IPRED

The main objective would be to adapt the Directive (2004/48/EC) to today’s challenges in order to make sure that intellectual property rights can be protected effectively and uniformly in the EU, in particular in a digital environment. Several provisions of the Directive should be clarified in order to achieve consistent interpretation and enforcement

Notice and takedown

91 Digital Single Market: Initiative on notice and takedown procedures

The main policy objectives are: contribute to a good functioning of Digital Single Market, contribute to combating illegality on the internet, ensure the transparency, effectiveness, proportionality and compliance with fundamental rights of notice and takedown procedures, ensure a balanced and workable approach towards NTD procedures, with focus on fundamental rights and the impact for innovation, growth

Illicit drugs (crime)

This was not mentioned in the earlier post.

97 Minimum provisions on the constituent elements of criminal acts and penalties in the field of illicit drug trafficking (legislative proposal)

To enable Member States to tackle illicit drug trafficking more efficiently and foster a common EU approach to drug trafficking through approximation of offences and sanctions, addressing shortcomings identified during the assessment carried out in 2009 of Framework Decision 2004/757/JHA, and replacing this instrument

Ralf Grahn

P.S. For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes our digital future and online freedoms. Is your blog already listed among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

Forcing ACTA on EU citizens

Was it too much to tweet the following to @davidmartinmep – the new ACTA rapporteur in the European Parliament: 100 demonstrations this week & 1.8 million signatures against #ACTA cause for rejection of current IPR agenda?

On the face of it, yes, as @awbMaven pointed out: By themselves they're not cause 4 rejection, but it IS cause 4 IN DEPTH consideration of the issues raised imv.

Good point, but what about the wider questions of the right aims and objectives, common sense (proportionality), legitimacy and acceptance?

The Group of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) had just appointed David Martin MEP the new rapporteur for ACTA in the Committee on International Trade (INTA) in the European Parliament. Martin seemed to dismiss the widespread concerns among citizens as myths, and took a narrow, technical view of the treaty, removing ACTA from the context of the EU Commission's copyright and IPR enforcement agenda.

I was not the only one worried by the first signs from the new rapporteur, after the recent spectacular defection by Kader Arif. La Quadrature du Net asked: Will the New ACTA Rapporteur Stand For Citizens' Freedoms?


Wider issues are real concerns

The Anti-Counterfeiting (and much more) Trade Agreement ACTA has wider implications than its deceptive packaging as merely an intergovernmental trade pact and the misleading headline evoking counterfeit goods would lead us to believe.

Read the article about the wider stakes and common sense by professor Michael Kennedy, For Your Digital Freedom and Ours, mentioned in the previous Grahnlaw post (about the EU IPR enforcement agenda).

David Jolly reports from Paris for the New York Times: A New Question of Internet Freedom. The article was written for American readers, so it offers an excellent introduction to others as well, who are curious about the commotion, but do not yet know the issues.

Alexander Furnas provides a more detailed analysis in The Atlantic: Why an International Trade Agreement Could Be as Bad as SOPA. Even if some people make exaggerated assertions about ACTA, the treaty seen in context is dangerous.


Legitimacy

After the wave of protest in Central Europe, the BBC speaks about a hundred demonstrations planned for this week all over Europe. Saturday, 11 February 2012, is the main day of action according to the map and the facts provided by stoppacta-protest.info.

The Avaaz online petition for the European Parliament (and the national parliaments) to reject ACTA has now been signed by 1.84 million citizens, and the number keeps growing every few seconds.

For a treaty which allegedly changes nothing in EU law (but perhaps something in the member states), it looks stupid to purposefully lose the respect of citizens, especially the younger generations.

Aren't the relations of the European Union with civil society bad enough as they are, without a determined effort to poison them further?

I am all for statesmen having to do the right thing, when needed. But leadership and legitimacy are not about persisting in doing the wrong thing, however efficiently.

Paradoxically, the stubborn and callous policies of the EU Commission and its repressive allies have united Europeans more than anything to date. My humble congratulations.

With the arrival of the new EP rapporteur, the need for the petitions and demonstrations has only grown greater.



Ralf Grahn

P.S. For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes our digital future and online freedoms. Is your blog already listed among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

De Gucht merits ACTA rejection

We learn, although not from the website of Karel De Gucht, but from La Quadrature du Net, that the EU trade commissioner has written a letter to the members of the Committee on International Trade (INTA) in the European Parliament, accusing civil society campaigners against ACTA of misinformation or misrepresentation and telling the the MEPs why ACTA is such a great achievement (plus 10 myths about ACTA and ACTA arguments 25.01.2012 to give them courage).

No bridge-building from a belligerent De Gucht. A mixture of irritation and arrogance is perhaps the best description of how the trade commissioner views the worries and resistance from the citizens he is supposed to serve.

This has been the attitude from the beginning, and it looks like the way it is going to continue.

De Gucht speaks about the netizens, but not with them. They are wrong or worse. Period. He expects the European Parliament to do its duty by giving its consent to the Anti-Counterfeiting (and much else) Trade Agreement.

Indeed, many wild assertions have been made about ACTA, but the propaganda bulldozer demonstrates an astonishing lack of sensitivity and understanding of legitimacy.

On these grounds alone, ACTA needs to fail.



Ralf Grahn

P.S. Between global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes our digital future and freedoms. Multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the new posts from more than 900 euroblogs – for you.

ACTA text in 22 languages - Soon a million protesting online

The Anti-Counterfeiting (and much else) Trade Agreement #ACTA is a hot subject on Twitter and the online public sphere in general. Different campaigns aim at defeating the treaty. A short while ago @Avaaz had reached 963,079 online signatures on a global petition for the European Parliament to reject the treaty negotiated between the European Union and the governments of a number of states. (Thousands were added during the writing of this blog entry.)

In the United States a petition to submit ACTA to the Senate for approval had gathered 4,699 signatures, but a total of citizens 25,000 are needed by 21 February 2012 to qualify for an official response.

Some of the assertions made about ACTA, the final text signed and open for signatures, are pretty wild. On the other hand, governments stubbornly excluded the public and built a vast pool of distrust and resentment. Official information has tended to be one-sided, highlighting only positive effects.

Yesterday I collected links to a number of my blog posts in Finnish, Swedish and English about information society legislation issues, including ACTA and copyright, in one Grahnlaw entry. ACTA raises fundamental questions about the relationships between (democratic) governments and the governed.

If you wade through the #ACTA Twitter stream you can find useful assessments, even real gems, regarding the content and effects among the more hyperbolic assertions.


ACTA text in 22 languages

Getting the facts straight would be a good start for those who are still open to reasoned arguments. Beacause of the international character of the debate, one helpful place to go to is Eur-Lex, the legal portal of the EU, where you find 22 language versions of the ACTA proposal and treaty.

Here is the English version:

Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the conclusion of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Mexican States, the Kingdom of Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Singapore, the Swiss Confederation and the United States of America

As the depository, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan offers a note on the signatories to date, as well as other information about its efforts to protect intellectual property internationally.

Through the Legislative Observatory of the European Parliament Oeil you can follow the procedure 2011/0167(NLE) at European level.

The IPEX register with national procedures in EU member states is not very helpful, so here other information sources are needed: media, activists and official.



Ralf Grahn

P.S. Bloggingportal.eu, the multilingual aggregator of euroblogs, is the hub for the national and thematical blogospheres at the European level, including issues about the information society and online media.

Information society, ACTA and copyright legislation

Here they are, in all their glory, the 22 language versions of ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. But, as we soon find out, the European Union and its Member States, Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Mexican States, the Kingdom of Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Singapore, the Swiss Confederation and the United States of America did not limit their ambitions to anti-counterfeiting.

If you look at the proposal, you soon find out that the aim of ACTA is ”to effectively combat the infringement of intellectual property rights (IPR)” in general, including by ”provisions on civil, criminal, border and digital environment enforcement measures, robust cooperation mechanisms among ACTA Parties to assist in their enforcement efforts, and the establishment of best practices for effective IPR enforcement”.

Intellectual property in ACTA refers to all categories of intellectual property that are the subject of Sections 1 through 7 of Part II of the TRIPS Agreement, including copyright.


Troubling questions

How should governments and parliaments legislate for the information society, where they easily seem to end up defending outdated models and particular interests against the digital natives (who are also citizens) and, perhaps, the general interest?

How important is trust and interaction between governments and the governed? Legitimacy?

When does legislation drive innovation, and when does it drive it away?


Infosoc roundup

These questions have cropped up in my latest blog posts, written in Finnish (FI), Swedish (SV) and English (EN).

Grahnlaw (EN): ACTA update (in part)

Grahnlaw (EN): ACTA in European Parliament committees: International Trade and Development

Grahnlaw (EN): ACTA in European Parliament committees: Legal Affairs (JURI)

Grahnblawg (SV): Framtiden online i Riksdagen

Eurooppaoikeus (FI): Tekijänoikeustoimikunta verkkopiratismia vastaan

Grahnlaw (EN): Information society, online media and Bloggingportal.eu

Grahnlblawg (SV): Upphovsrättskommissionen i Finland angriper nätpiratismen

Grahnlaw (EN): A communication disaster called ACTA

Grahnlaw (EN): ACTA signatures and content

Eurooppaoikeus (FI): ACTA ja fakta

Grahnblawg (SV): Lagstifta för den digitala världen, inte gårdagen – ACTA?

***

Getting the facts straight and the arguments based on evidence would help meeting the challenges of our common digital agenda.



Ralf Grahn


P.S. Bloggingportal.eu, the multilingual aggregator of euroblogs, joins the national and thematical blogospheres at the European level.

ACTA signatures and content

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan has published a note on the signing of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Mexican States, the Kingdom of Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Singapore, the Swiss Confederation and the United States of America (ACTA) by the European Union and its member states.

At the first signing ceremony, 1 October 2011, ACTA was signed by Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.

Yesterday, 26 January 2012, ACTA was signed for the EU (Council or Commission) and 22 of the 27 member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

In other words, Mexico and Switzerland have not signed yet. The EU member states which did not sign the agreement yesterday are expected to do so on the completion of respective domestic procedures. They are: Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia.


ACTA contents

The ACTA negotiations were conducted as a master class in undermining trust by and in governments and the European Union, but many of the public comments, for instance on Twitter #ACTA, give an impression that the contents of the agreement should be better known before being understood.

The proposal for a Council decision COM(2011) 380 exists in 22 official EU languages, with the agreement annexed. The English version is here.


INTA rapporteur and events

The ACTA rapporteur in the EP Committee on International Trade (INTA), Kader Arif, renounced his preparatory task as a protest move against the process (in French).

The Pirate MEP Christian Engström offers an orderly view of a chaotic situation. The text of the blog post is in Swedish, but the links lead to items in the original languages.


Ralf Grahn


P.S. Follow events on Bloggingportal.eu, the multilingual aggregator of euroblogs.

Information society, online media and Bloggingportal.eu

What can you expect from a three year old? I decided to see if the new posts on Bloggingportal.eu are good for other people than those interested in how many EU institutions can dance on the head of a pin.

Instead I opted for one or more policy areas related to the European information society (tag: infosoc) and online media (tag: media) during the last 24 hours or so.

Here is what I registered:

Eurooppaoikeus: Tekijänoikeustoimikunta verkkopiratismia vastaan

Grahnblawg: Framtiden online i Riksdagen

The IPKat: Congress 1, Public 0 – the U.S. Supreme Court's Big Decision in Golan v. Holder

The IPKat: Gambling on appeal? Seeing Red over 32

Europolice: EU surveillance

Mathew Lowry's Tagsmanian Devil: Dear Sony, so much for .eu

FT Brussles blog, Stanley Pignal: Steelie Neelie takes on the Hungarians

Google, European Public Policy Blog: Promoting small businesses and economic growth in Europe

TheIPKat: When reporting ”trumps” copyright: the sad case of Declan Hainey

Waltzing Matilda: Tools Tuesday: The Archivist

Groenlinks: ACTA rampzalig voor ontwikkelingslanden

Erkan's Field Diary: anti France imagery after the genocide bill in Turkish twittersphere

Eva en Europa: Hungría y el liberticidio se topan con la Unión Europea

Netzpolitik: ACTA: Kontaktiert den EU-Entwicklungsausschuss

Recent developments in European consumer law: EU data protection reform

Public Service Europe, Sabine Wils: Electronic waste – Europe living beyond its means

Rhein on Energy and Climate, Eberhard Rhein: EU is going ahead with stricter recycling of electric and electronic Waste


Comment

Not bad, I would say, for a day and a night. Theoretically Bloggingportal.eu has 904 euroblogs listed, but blogs come and go, so some are now inactive. However, during the last seven days close to 250 blogs have published one or more blog posts, which is quite impressive.

If I look at the information society themes, such as copyright, e-commerce, piracy, entrepreneurship, data protection etc., as well as matters related to online media, I feel that you can keep fairly well up to date by following all new posts on Bloggingportal.eu, not only the editors' choice (front page).

However, many of the best European tech and policy blogs have not yet found their way to Bloggingportal.eu, even if the EU is an important hub for the ITC issues debated both at global and at national level.

You can propose both individual articles and new blogs to Bloggingportal.eu. Perhaps you have a few policy oriented examples you could share, because the future of Europe is online.



Ralf Grahn

ACTA update (in part)

In October 2011 I wrote a blog post Greens challenge ACTA legality. The two proposals from the Commission (DG Trade) had been published in June. They are:

Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the signing, on behalf of the European Union of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Mexican States, the Kingdom of Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Singapore, the Swiss Confederation and the United States of America; Brussels, 24.6.2011 COM(2011) 379 final; procedure 2011/0166 (NLE)

Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the conclusion of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Mexican States, the Kingdom of Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Singapore, the Swiss Confederation and the United States of America; Brussels, 24.6.2011 COM(2011) 380 final; procedure 2011/0167 (NLE)

COM(2011) 380 is available in 22 official EU languages. Thus, the text of the annexed agreement is available in most of the European languages.


Formal adoption


As an 'A item', without discussion, the Council (Agriculture and Fisheries, 15 December 2011) adopted a decision to authorise the signing of ACTA:

3137th Council meeting Agriculture and Fisheries; Brussels, 15-16 December 2011 (document 18708/11)

You find the text on page 43, under the headline TRADE POLICY:

Anti-counterfeiting trade agreement

The Council adopted a decision authorising the signing of an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) with Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.

ACTA is aimed at establishing an international framework to improve the enforcement of intellectual property right laws and create improved international standards for actions against large-scale infringements of intellectual property. Negotiations were concluded in November 2010.

According to the Legislative Observatory Oeil, the issue of approval of ACTA by the European Parliament is still at a preparatory stage (although for a while the Oeil and committee pages have been impossible to access).



Ralf Grahn

EU information society priorities revisited

Is it possible that Europeans do not believe in a real digital single market as a realistic possibility, but see just one more slogan in an endless bog of internal market tinkering?


European information society priorities

As I mentioned in the blog post EU Digital Agenda Public consultation 2009, one of the key documents on the road to the new ICT priorities of the Digital Agenda was the Summary of responses to the public consultation public consultation Priorities for a new strategy for European information society (2010-2015) (DG INFSO, 28 pages).

The public consultation was open from 4 August to 9 October 2009, but the summary is undated.

I am still worried about the proportionately low level of responses to the information society consultation from the Mediterranean EU member states Greece, Portugal and Spain we have seen so much in the news, as well as from the new member states which still have a huge need to catch up.


European information society themes

Rereading the consultation summary, I still feel it offers useful facts and views about the state of the European information society themes (page 5):

1) ICT for a growth and jobs agenda, 2) ICT for a sustainable 'low carbon' economy; 3) Improving Europe's performance in ICT research and innovation; 4) Creating a 100% connected society and economy through a high-speed and open internet for all; 5) Consolidating the online Single Market; 6) Promoting access to creativity at all levels; 7) Strengthening EU's role in the international ICT arena; 8) Making modern and efficient public services available and accessible to all; 9) Using ICT to improve the quality of life of EU citizens.

Online single market

In retrospect I am somewhat puzzled by the lack of interest, vision and ambition among both individual citizens and organisations relating to the online single market (nowadays often called the digital single market) as an ICT policy priority. See page 9.

Is it possible that Europeans do not believe in a real digital single market as a realistic possibility, but see it as just one more slogan in an endless bog of internal market tinkering?

In my view, a truly EU-wide digital single market would be a huge boost to European competitiveness and innovation and to most of the other worthy aims of the Digital Agenda for Europe.

Despite the low priority in the abstract, section 3.4 Digital Single Market (on pages 18-20) showed clear interest in issues presented in more concrete terms. Some of them, such as copyright legislation and licensing regimes which stifle innovative pan-European digital content services, are controversial.

***

All in all, in the context of the Europe 2020 growth strategy (EU2020) revisiting the ICT priorities through the EU information society consultation felt like a wortwhile exercise, not a waste of time.



Ralf Grahn

EU Digital Single Market

In July 2011 I wrote about how Mario Monti confronted the lack of an EU Digital Single Market. I looked at how Monti's proposals became a part of the Europe 2020 growth strategy (EU2020) and its flagship initiative A Digital Agenda for Europe.

Various aspects of the Digital Agenda, including the Digital Single Market, are covered in the blog posts mentioned in my 17 July and 24 July roundups.


Consultation on distribution of audiovisual works

One of the issues with relevance for the Digital Agenda is the ongoing consultation on the green paper concerning the distribution of audiovisual works in the European Union. Issues relating to the single market, as well as copyright and neighbouring rights are handled by the Commission DG for the internal market and services, so this is where you find the needed information. The deadline for contributions is 18 November 2011.

The Green paper on the online distribution of audiovisual works in the EU is available in 22 official EU languages; the English pdf version:

GREEN PAPER on the online distribution of audiovisual works in the European Union: opportunities and challenges towards a digital single market; Brussels, 13.7.2011 COM(2011) 427 final (19 pages)

You can stay updated by following @DigitalAgendaEU and @EU_Markt on Twitter and Digital Agenda on Facebook.



Ralf Grahn

EU Creative content consultation contributions online

The contributions to the European Commission’s public consultation on creative content in a European digital single market are now online, divided into the following contributor categories: member states/public bodies, European associations/NGOs, companies and citizens.



The responses are based on the Commission’s reflection document on creative content (22 October 2009).




Ralf Grahn







P.S. Chasing Brussels is an audioblog, offering podcasts of discussions between eurobloggers on recent events and challenges facing the European Union.

Chasing Brussels is listed with more than 500 great Euroblogs on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, policies, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

EU IPR enforcement discussion

The Grahnlaw blog post EU enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) and ACTA (10 January 2010) mentioned some of the materials for understanding the current moves to enhance IPR enforcement:




IPRED: Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, as published with corrections in the Official Journal of the European Union 2.6.2004 L 195/16




The Commission's Communication of 11 September 2009 on enhancing the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the internal market1; COM(2009) 467 final (12 pages)



EU Conference on Enforcement of IPR




On 15 to16 December 2009 the Swedish government arranged an EU Conference on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (11 December 2009).





Additional information is available through the web page of the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union: Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, with a Special Focus on Trademarks and Patents (15 December 2009), especially the links to fourteen presentations made in Stockholm by:


Richard D. Heath, Stefan Johansson, Annette Kur, Benoît Lory, Konstantinos Rossoglou, Alvydas Stancikas, Anamaria Stoia, Thierry Sueur, Anne-Charlotte Söderlund, Birte Timm-Wagner, Dariusz Urbanski, Erling Vestergaard, Susanne As Sivborg ja Luc Pierre Devigne.


Even if these are mainly PowerPoint presentations, mainly consisting of bullet points, they offer basic information about legislative and non-legislative actions; internal market, customs and international trade efforts; the agendas of different stakeholder groups etc.





These were all part of the background for the discussion today on the draft Council Resolution on enhancing IPR enforcement (document 5022/10) we mentioned in the earlier post.





Ralf Grahn




P.S. The different language versions of the webzine Le Taurillon are part of an active effort to describe and to improve the European Union from the viewpoint of its citizens. The articles of Le Taurillon (in French) / The New Federalist (in English) / Eurobull (in Italian) / Taurin-Magazin (in German) appear together with blog posts of more than 500 great euroblogs, listed on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, a useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, policies, economics, finance and law.

By the way, euroblogs are an excellent means to brush up your foreign language skills while learning about our common challenges.

New structure: Official Journal of the European Union

Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the structure of the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) has been renewed, in particular with regard to Legislative acts (L I) and Non-legislative acts (L II).

The structure offers an overview of the rich materials available through the OJEU, as well as the various types of official documents in use by the European Union.


The paper is of interest i.a. to researchers, teachers, librarians and lawyers, as well as students of information science, economics, politics and law.

Even if nobody has asked me: The Official Journal is the best source of information about the European Union.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Ideas, economic models and (copy)rights clash on the frontiers of the knowledge society. Bilingual – French and English - La Quadrature du Net (Squaring the Net) is right there, as an advocacy group that promotes the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet. In my humble opinion, it should submit to be listed among the now more than 500 great euroblogs on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, a useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, policies, economics, finance and law.

Citizens in the EU Information Society (European Digital Agenda)

The previous Grahnlaw blog post EU: Last call for copyright comments! Consultation closing (30 December 2009) was, in its own humble way, an example of European cross-border networking in the digital age.




Squaring the Net


On Twitter, I noticed a tweet by Fabien Cazenave, which led to a blog post on La Quadrature du Net: Une semaine pour répondre à la Commission européenne sur le futur du droit d’auteur (29 December 2009). Later I realised that there existed an English version of the web site, with the same blog post: A week left to respond to the European Commission on the future of Copyright (even posted a day earlier, on 28 December 2009).




Anyway, without these messages, I would have continued my writing on EU telecoms policies, information society policies and the future European Digital Agenda, arriving at copyright issues well after the closure of the copyright consultation, officially based on Content in a European Digital Single Market: Challenges for the Future ─ A Reflection Document DG INFSO and DG MARKT.


I believe that copyright issues are going to be of crucial importance in the development of the internal market as well as with regard to the European Union’s trade relations with the outside world (e.g. ACTA) in 2010 and the years to come.

I also believe that it is important that all interests, including citizens and consumers, are adequately represented, when the EU shapes its information society policies.




La Quadrature du Net is an active bilingual (French and English) advocacy group promoting the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet. It has dossiers on: Net neutrality, ACTA, the Telecoms package and Hadopi (the French law). I even found an English name for the Group: Squaring the Net.


There is too much to digest at one go, but here are a few samples of interesting news and posts:



ACTA: A Global Threat to Freedoms (Open Letter) (Updated 24 December 2009)




Questions for the new European Commissioners (16 December 2009)




Copyright: Towards a recognition of users’ rights at WIPO? (23 December 2009)



Netzpolitik.org



Netzpolitik.org has a similar agenda, in German:

netzpolitik.org ist ein Blog und eine politische Plattform für Freiheit und Offenheit im digitalen Zeitalter.

Pirate Party



The Pirate Party (Swedish: Piratpartiet) is turning into an interesting pan-EU phenomenon, with one elected member of the European Parliament (soon to become two).

Here is the (Swedish) Pirate Party agenda in a nutshell:

The Pirate Party wants to fundamentally reform copyright law, get rid of the patent system, and ensure that citizens' rights to privacy are respected. With this agenda, and only this, we are making a bid for representation in the European and Swedish parliaments.

Numerically small, but growing like a mushroom, the Pirate Party could have the potential to become a real pan-European party, while the traditional Europarties are still tying their shoelaces.


Citizens


The Internet is borderless, but the European Union is an important player concerning the internal market, international trade relations (e.g. ACTA) and international organisations (e.g. WIPO).

No longer can EU member state governments, lobby groups or the European Commission rely on passive and uninterested citizens and consumers to accept the outcomes of deals signed and sealed between diplomats.

Active citizens and networks, together with the European Parliament, have an important role to play in forming a fair and open European information society.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Read the FT Brussels Blog and other great euroblogs listed on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, our common “village well” for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs

EU: Last call for copyright comments! Consultation closing

There are only a few days left to respond to the public consultation “Content Online”, launched by the DG Internal Market of the European Commission. This consultation on audiovisual and media policy, copyright, and the Single market ends 5 January 2010.




The exercise is based on the document Creative Content in a European Digital Single Market: Challenges for the Future ─ A Reflection Document DG INFSO and DG MARKT (22 October 2009; 22 pages).


These questions are of crucial importance to citizens and consumers, as well creative artists and employees, organisations for various interests, public administrations and businesses of all sizes, as a quick look at the contents show:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. The evolution of technology and content markets
2.1. Music
2.2. Publishing
2.3. Audiovisual (Film, Video-on-Demand)
2.4. Video games

3. Recent EU level initiatives

4. The main challenges
4.1. Consumer access
4.2. Commercial users' access
4.3. Protection of rightholders

5. Possible EU actions for a Single Market for Creative Content Online
5.1. Consumer access
5.2. Commercial users’ access
5.3. Protection of rightholders

6. Conclusions

European Digital Agenda & Creative Content Online


As part of the coming European Digital Agenda, the objective of the reflection paper is the creation in Europe of a modern, pro-competitive, and consumer-friendly legal framework for a genuine Single Market for Creative Content Online, in particular by (page 3):

– creating a favourable environment in the digital world for creators and rightholders, by ensuring appropriate remuneration for their creative works, as well as for a culturally diverse European market;

– encouraging the provision of attractive legal offers to consumers with transparent pricing and terms of use, thereby facilitating users' access to a wide range of content through digital networks anywhere and at any time;

– promoting a level playing field for new business models and innovative solutions for the distribution of creative content.

The announced European Digital Agenda is in a formative phase, and the legislative programme for the next Commission is being prepared (page 3), which means that this is an important time for those who want to contribute to the agenda.



A European Copyright Law?


Among possible EU actions for a single market for creative content online (from page 14), and against the background of hopelessly fragmented markets, the Commission mentions the idea of a unified “European Copyright Law”, as a means to achieve coherence in online licensing (page 18). Here is an excerpt of the reasoning:

A Community copyright title would have instant Community-wide effect, thereby creating a single market for copyrights and related rights. It would overcome the issue that each national copyright law, though harmonised as to its substantive scope, applies only in one particular national territory. A Community copyright would enhance legal security and transparency, for right owners and users alike, and greatly reduce transaction and licensing costs. Unification of EU copyright by regulation could also restore the balance between rights and exceptions – a balance that is currently skewed by the fact that the harmonisation directives mandate basic economic rights, but merely permit certain exceptions and limitations. A regulation could provide that rights and exceptions are afforded the same degree of harmonisation.

By creating a single European copyright title, European Copyright Law would create a toolfor streamlining rights management across the Single Market, doing away with the necessity of administering a "bundle" of 27 national copyrights.

With rapidly evolving technologies and market conditions, copyright is going to be one of crucial issues in the internal market as well as for the European Union’s trade negotiations internationally.

It is important that all interested parties contribute to the improvement of the European legal and policy framework.

The copyright consultation closes on 5 January 2010.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Read Adjudicating Europe and other great euroblogs listed on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, our common “village well” for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs.

EU: Directive on protection of computer programs

Directive 2009/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the legal protection of computer programs (Codified version) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union 5.5.2009 L 111/16.



As a harmonisation (approximation) measure in the internal market, this Directive has EEA relevance, and it replaces the amended Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on the legal protection of computer programs. The codified Directive 2009/24/EC enters into force on 6 May 2009.

How are computer programs protected?

Article 1 of Directive 2009/24/EC equals the legal protection of computer programs with copyright protection:

Article 1
Object of protection

1. In accordance with the provisions of this Directive, Member States shall protect computer programs, by copyright, as literary works within the meaning of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. For the purposes of this Directive, the term ‘computer programs’ shall include their preparatory design material.

2. Protection in accordance with this Directive shall apply to the expression in any form of a computer program. Ideas and principles which underlie any element of a computer program, including those which underlie its interfaces, are not protected by copyright under this Directive.

3. A computer program shall be protected if it is original in the sense that it is the author's own intellectual creation. No other criteria shall be applied to determine its eligibility for protection.

4. The provisions of this Directive shall apply also to programs created before 1 January 1993, without prejudice to any acts concluded and rights acquired before that date.



Ralf Grahn