EU Public Affairs Monitor - 24/08/08

IFPI: "Three strikes" efforts hit worldwide home run 19/08/08
"The music business doesn't actually enjoy suing its fans, nor does it like being the worldwide target of scorn, wrath, calumny, disdain, rancor, and ridicule (did I miss any?). No, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI -- the global music recording trade group -- the industry would much rather solve the P2P file-sharing problem through ISP partnerships rather than lawsuits.

We reported yesterday on Jim Griffin's work with Warner to make a voluntary blanket music license a possibility by partnering with ISPs and college networks. That's the "carrot" approach, but the music business wants some effective "sticks," too, and IFPI now believes it has found a good one: graduated response, also known as "three strikes" rules, which are being trotted out of regulatory dugouts around the world." [ArsTechnica]

Small Business Administration Orphan Works Roundtable August 24, 2008
"The Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy held a roundtable on the economic impact on small business (every artist) of the orphan works legislation at the Salmagundi Club in Manhattan on August 8. A webcast is available. (The Salmagundi Club is a 137-year old institution to promote the visual arts, named after Washington Irving's Salmagundi Papers.)

The roundtable participants included a broad cross-section of the creative community all of whom objected to, and many outright opposed, the orphan works legislation." [MusicTechPolicy]