Showing posts with label Creation and Internet law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creation and Internet law. Show all posts
12/5/08
EU Public Affairs Monitor - 05/12/08
Industry welcomes Danish Pirate Bay Ruling
"A gaggle of trade body spokesmen, and that is the correct collective noun, in case you wondered, lined up to welcome a ruling in the Danish courts this week which upheld a previous ruling that Denmark-based internet service provider Sonofon is obliged to block access to The Pirate Bay website, because the site is responsible for mass copyright infringement.
The Pirate Bay, of course, is the most blatant of the BitTorrent trackers who provide access to all kinds of illegal sources of digital content. The Swedish based enterprise has continued to operate despite a number of court rulings against them. The people behind the website are facing prosecution in Sweden and could be in court as soon as February.
But the Danish case centered on ISP Sonofon who have been told they have to block access to The Pirate Bay, but who aren't so keen on doing so. They appealed an earlier ruling that ordered the blocking, but Denmark's appeal court upheld the original order on Wednesday." [CMUDaily]
New Firefox extension turns Amazon.com into illegal free-for-all
"A new Firefox extension called Pirates of the Amazon lets users download movies, games, TV shows, and MP3s free of charge by cross referencing Amazon's product pages with torrent files from the Pirate Bay.
If the content can be found on the Pirate Bay's search index it shows up as a "Download 4 Free" link on the top of the Amazon product page. This links directly to the hosted .torrent tracker file, letting the user avoid having to make a purchase from Amazon in place of acquiring it illegally via BitTorrent." [RecordOfTheDay]
Une vidéo sur les dessous du projet de loi Création et Internet
"La chaîne Public Sénat a consacré un des numéros de son émission les Dessous de la Loi, à la gestion de la loi Création et Internet. Un reportage intéressant en ce qu’il permet de replacer le texte dans son contexte et découvrir certains de ses dessous.
Au fil de l’émission, la parole est donnée aux principaux protagonistes de Christine Abanel, à Jérémie Zimmerman de la Quadrature du net, en passant par la SACEM, Pascal Nègre ou Mano Solo ou les inévitables Clément et Alexandre de la Chanson du Dimanche. Les divisions du PS, les positions de la Commission des affaires économiques, très sensibilisée aux conséquences de la coupure sur les réseaux sont également remis en lumière." [PCInpact]
A successful EU organisation
"The Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market has approved more than 500,000 applications for EU-wide trademarks since it was created in 1996.
The Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) is not the best known of EU organisations but it is arguably one of the most successful. The office, which grants Community-wide trademarks, has just approved its 500,000th application. It finances itself entirely from the fees it charges for trademark registration and is expecting to generate a surplus of €65 million this year. It has already built up reserves of €350m, which have made it possible to cut the registration fee to less than €1,000, down from €1,700 since 2005 and €2,075 from 1996 when the office became operational." [EuropeanVoice]
11/7/08
EU Public Affairs Monitor - 07/11/08
Benchmarks for innovation policy: A new study aims to find the ideal setting for entrepreneurs.
"A study to be published next month will set out an “entrepreneurial idyll” or an ideal environment for entrepreneurs to exist.
The study, carried out by Birmingham University and Cambridge University, aims to step away from the policy-driven measures to help boost small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and focus instead on what makes firms do well." [EuropeanVoice]
Spat over VAT persists - Germany remains highly critical over plans to lower VAT for more businesses.
"A row about extending the EU's lowest, 5% VAT rate to labour-intensive industries is likely to continue well into December, following a meeting today that revealed that divisions between the EU's 27 finance ministers remain deep.
There was, though, more agreement on VAT on cross-border trade and movement on several other issues, including an agreement to review alleged tax-evasion loopholes for Liechtenstein.
During the Ecofin meeting of finance ministers, Germany made it clear that there is no evidence that lowering VAT for labour-intensive businesses such as restaurants would create jobs and said thorough discussion is still required. The European Commission, with the strong backing of France, the EU presidency, presented the proposal in July." [EuropeanVoice]
French Senate Validates Three-Strike Scheme
"The French Senate has adopted the "Creation and Internet" law, only 24 hours after the debates began. While intense debates were anticipated, the draft gathered 297 votes in favor and only 15 against.
The draft law, which now has to be voted by the French Parliament, suffered surprisingly few amendments by the Senators, who most notably validated the three-strike scheme, under which infringers could ultimately see their Internet access cut." [Billboard][CMUDaily]
"A study to be published next month will set out an “entrepreneurial idyll” or an ideal environment for entrepreneurs to exist.
The study, carried out by Birmingham University and Cambridge University, aims to step away from the policy-driven measures to help boost small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and focus instead on what makes firms do well." [EuropeanVoice]
Spat over VAT persists - Germany remains highly critical over plans to lower VAT for more businesses.
"A row about extending the EU's lowest, 5% VAT rate to labour-intensive industries is likely to continue well into December, following a meeting today that revealed that divisions between the EU's 27 finance ministers remain deep.
There was, though, more agreement on VAT on cross-border trade and movement on several other issues, including an agreement to review alleged tax-evasion loopholes for Liechtenstein.
During the Ecofin meeting of finance ministers, Germany made it clear that there is no evidence that lowering VAT for labour-intensive businesses such as restaurants would create jobs and said thorough discussion is still required. The European Commission, with the strong backing of France, the EU presidency, presented the proposal in July." [EuropeanVoice]
French Senate Validates Three-Strike Scheme
"The French Senate has adopted the "Creation and Internet" law, only 24 hours after the debates began. While intense debates were anticipated, the draft gathered 297 votes in favor and only 15 against.
The draft law, which now has to be voted by the French Parliament, suffered surprisingly few amendments by the Senators, who most notably validated the three-strike scheme, under which infringers could ultimately see their Internet access cut." [Billboard][CMUDaily]
11/3/08
EU Public Affairs Monitor - 03/11/08
French internet law clashes with EU position
"The French Senate has overwhelmingly voted in favour of a law that would cut off access to the internet to web surfers who repeatedly download copyrighted music, films or video games without paying.
Under the so-called three strikes or "graduated response" legislation - which still needs approval by the lower house before it becomes French law - illegal downloaders are first sent an email warning them of their infraction. They are subsequently sent a warning letter in the post. French senators want to force web surfers to use legal download services such as iTunes rather than pirate copyrighted content." [EUObserver]
French minister promises action
"Christine Albanel, French Minister of Culture and Communication, has told European indie group Impala that the French government will almost immediately debate a Creation and Internet law proposal to examine how to deal with online piracy.
Albanel told the group, “Of course, there is no secret plan to impose the French anti-piracy plan to the rest of Europe. I simply wish that our experience will prove an inspiration for other European states whose cultural businesses are as threatened as the French ones.” [MusicWeek]
Six Caribbean societies are working together to invigorate their countries’ creativity by stabilising Caribbean music’s place in the global economy
"When the Caribbean Copyright Link (CCL) was incorporated in August 2000, the CCL office consisted of a desk at COTT’s headquarters in Trinidad and one full-time employee. Alone, he managed a common back office for the 4 copyright societies that founded CCL—COSCAP (Barbados), COTT (Trinidad and Tobago), HMS (St Lucia) and JACAP (Jamaica)." [CISAC]
Italian fiscal police prosecute 46 for serious uploading
"Italian fiscal police have prosecuted 46 people for uploading large amounts of copyright infringing music onto the internet. Operation ‘Music Box’ was undertaken by the Guardia di Finanza of Venice, with the assistance of local industry anti-piracy group FPM." [IFPI]
"The French Senate has overwhelmingly voted in favour of a law that would cut off access to the internet to web surfers who repeatedly download copyrighted music, films or video games without paying.
Under the so-called three strikes or "graduated response" legislation - which still needs approval by the lower house before it becomes French law - illegal downloaders are first sent an email warning them of their infraction. They are subsequently sent a warning letter in the post. French senators want to force web surfers to use legal download services such as iTunes rather than pirate copyrighted content." [EUObserver]
French minister promises action
"Christine Albanel, French Minister of Culture and Communication, has told European indie group Impala that the French government will almost immediately debate a Creation and Internet law proposal to examine how to deal with online piracy.
Albanel told the group, “Of course, there is no secret plan to impose the French anti-piracy plan to the rest of Europe. I simply wish that our experience will prove an inspiration for other European states whose cultural businesses are as threatened as the French ones.” [MusicWeek]
Six Caribbean societies are working together to invigorate their countries’ creativity by stabilising Caribbean music’s place in the global economy
"When the Caribbean Copyright Link (CCL) was incorporated in August 2000, the CCL office consisted of a desk at COTT’s headquarters in Trinidad and one full-time employee. Alone, he managed a common back office for the 4 copyright societies that founded CCL—COSCAP (Barbados), COTT (Trinidad and Tobago), HMS (St Lucia) and JACAP (Jamaica)." [CISAC]
Italian fiscal police prosecute 46 for serious uploading
"Italian fiscal police have prosecuted 46 people for uploading large amounts of copyright infringing music onto the internet. Operation ‘Music Box’ was undertaken by the Guardia di Finanza of Venice, with the assistance of local industry anti-piracy group FPM." [IFPI]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
