From FIPR
Teresa ----------
EU SHOULD TARGET COUNTERFEITERS, NOT CONSUMERS
Individuals could be caught in the crossfire of new piracy law
MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE USE 7 March 2004
A Europe-wide coalition of citizens and consumer rights groups is calling on MEPs to support key amendments to a new law at the final European Parliament vote on Tuesday 9 March.
The directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights contains strong powers targeted at commercial counterfeiters and pirates. However, the law draft has recently been widened to cover *any* infringement of intellectual property rights, however small, unintentional or non-commercial. It would therefore cover consumers and small businesses as well as the organised criminals the law was originally aimed towards.
Without amendment, this legislation would:
* Let large companies raid premises, seize evidence and freeze the bank accounts of smaller competitors in highly technical alleged patent infringement cases
* Allow music companies to get court orders to raid the homes of alleged music file sharers for evidence
* Give any number of licensees of intellectual property the right to threaten their competitors with draconian legal mechanisms simply by alleging infringement
* Threaten press freedom in several countries such as Spain that include confidential information in their intellectual property laws
Amendments tabled by Marco Cappato MEP and the Green/EFA Group, the GUE Group and the EDD Group would fix these problems with the law. Over one hundred MEPs from across the political spectrum have already pledged their support. But this debate is the last chance Parliament has to stand up for EU citizens and small businesses before the law is passed by EU governments later in the week.
Coalition members will be meeting outside the Parliament in Strasbourg from 16.30-18.30 on Monday (8 March) to discuss these key issues with parliamentarians.
Ian Brown, director of coalition-member the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), said: "This law would best protect European artists, inventors and citizens if restricted to commercial counterfeiting and piracy. Otherwise it will lead to a flood of lawsuits against small businesses and consumers that will discredit European law in this area."
EU citizens can help by contacting their MEPs on Monday or Tuesday and asking them to support the Cappato and Green amendments. Contact details are available at http://www.the-elected.com/showInstitution/1
Contact details --------------- Ian Brown, Director, FIPR (London): ian@fipr.org or +44 7970 164 526 Andreas Dietl, EU Affairs Director, FIPR/EDRi (Strasbourg): +32 498 34 56 86 Teresa Hackett (Dublin): +353 87 6253768
More information ---------------- http://www.edri.org/cgi-bin/index?funktion=view&id=000100000134
Notes for editors ----------------- 1. The Foundation for Information Policy Research (http://www.fipr.org/) is an independent body founded in 1998 that studies the interaction between information technology and society. Its goal is to identify technical developments with significant social impact, commission and undertake research into public policy alternatives, and promote public understanding and dialogue between technologists and policy-makers in the UK and Europe.
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