Paris, 29 March 2013 — Two years after a first consultation, the European Commission is conducting yet-another public consultation on the “Civil enforcement of intellectual property rights”, essentially on the IPRED directive1IPRED (Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive) is an EU directive organizing the repression of infringements of copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc. Because of its overreaching nature, IPRED harms access to culture, and hampers new cultural practices such as remixing, but also the development of new technologies and innovation in general.. Many aspects of this new consultation are similar to the previous one, and call for similar answers. La Quadrature du Net therefore re-sent its previous submission and denounces a process aiming at buying time to delay any debate on the urgent need to reform copyright.
Initially, the European Commission proposed a revision of IPRED to “adapt” it to the digital environment, and to step up the war against online sharing, in line with ACTA2IPRED can be used to push Internet actors –search engines, hosting services, access providers– to automatically censor communications in order to combat online sharing of cultural works.. This new public consultation’s only purpose is to postpone the urgent reform of copyright3See La Quadrature’s proposals: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/elements-for-the-reform-of-copyright-and-related-cultural-policies, after the rejection of ACTA by the European Parliament and the mobilization of citizens against such dangerous repressive measures online. Rather than trying to buy time and continuing to protect the interest of the entertainment industry, the European Commission must urgently make copyright serve access to culture by overhauling the heavily criticized 2001/29 EUCD Copyright Directive4Officially the Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. In 2010, instead of commissioning a truly independent study of IPRED and its impact, the European Commission services produced a report which is a mere reproduction of the entertainment industry calls for weakening the liability exemptions of intermediaries. Nine years after the enactment of IPRED and its repressive measures, it’s time to finally conduct a true impact study in order to illustrate its failure to adapt copyright to Internet communications, to revise it and to open a real debate on a legislative framework adapted to the digital era.
Citizens can submit their own response to the consultation until the 30 March (and probably until Monday morning), to make these points clear and avoid playing the European Commission’s game.
Download La Quadrature du Net’s response: “IPRED Versus The Sharing of Culture: Moving Away From Enforcement” (in PDF).
See also, the EDRI’s answering guide.
To get more information and discuss this, you can visit our forum.
EU Commission contact details
Responsible service:
Internal Market and Services DG,
Unit D.3 – Fight against counterfeiting and piracy
E-mail:
markt-iprenforcement@ec.europa.eu
Postal address:
European Commission
SPA 2
1049 Brussels
Belgium
References
| ↑1 | IPRED (Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive) is an EU directive organizing the repression of infringements of copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc. Because of its overreaching nature, IPRED harms access to culture, and hampers new cultural practices such as remixing, but also the development of new technologies and innovation in general. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | IPRED can be used to push Internet actors –search engines, hosting services, access providers– to automatically censor communications in order to combat online sharing of cultural works. |
| ↑3 | See La Quadrature’s proposals: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/elements-for-the-reform-of-copyright-and-related-cultural-policies |
| ↑4 | Officially the Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society |