http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/20/business/worldbusiness/20lobby.html
Europe's Antipiracy Proposal Draws Criticism By PAUL MELLER
Published: October 20, 2003
BRUSSELS, Oct. 19 - In an effort to fight product counterfeiting and piracy, the European Union is preparing to enact a sweeping intellectual property law that critics say is ill-conceived and tilted heavily in favor of copyright and patent holders.
The proposal would go far beyond existing laws in Europe and the United States by classifying copyright violations and patent infringements, even some unwitting ones, as crimes punishable by prison terms.
Lawyers who have studied a draft of the proposed law say that not only could a teenager who downloaded a music file be sent to jail under it; so too could managers of the Internet service provider that the teenager happened to use, whether they knew what the teenager was doing or not.
The proposed law would also make it easier for drug manufacturers to forestall generic competition by effectively stretching the duration of their patents, the critics say, and even the makers of replacement auto parts could face prosecution if they sell their wares to consumers.
Backers of the proposed law, which would replace a patchwork of regulations in the union's 15 member countries, include influential European Union officials like Frits Bolkestein, the union's commissioner for internal markets, whose department drafted the proposed law, and Janelly Fourtou, the French member of the European Parliament who is in charge of leading the debate on it.
[.... etc. BTW Janelly Fourtou is the wife of the chief executive of Vivendi Universal, owners of one of the world's largest record companies, according to this! she says:]
The commission's original draft limited criminal penalties to those who violate copyrights "for commercial purposes" - language that would exclude consumers swapping music files.
But Ms. Fourtou has struck that limitation from the amended text of the proposed law. "In this sense, the scope of the directive is too narrow," she said. "Even if you aren't downloading music for profit, you still are having a very negative effect on authors and musicians. Even a young boy who does it innocently causes an economic countereffect.
"The Internet is a new way of living for young people," she continued. "It would be very good to send out a message to them, teach them right from wrong."
Ms. Fourtou said the change also brought the proposed law into line with World Trade Organization agreements on intellectual property and with "the wishes of a large number of professionals," referring mainly to the record industry.
--j.