Music News Bulletin - 23/01/09

Sharkey talks though at MIDEM
"More MIDEM, and the boss of cross-industry trade body UK Music, Feargal Sharkey, often the consolatory voice in the room when the music industry feels it is being abused by government or the internet industry, delivered some fighting talk in his speech.

First the UK government. Despite Culture Secretary Andy Burnham putting pressure on the ISPs to take a more proactive role in combating online piracy, and more recently saying that the government were no longer completely against the idea of extending the sound recording copyright, Sharkey said British ministers should do more to help the music business.

Welcoming the French approach to online piracy (putting obligations on the ISPs to act - and to cut off file sharers - into law), and noting that the UK industry often relied on European legislation to protect label and artists' interests, he said: "Whether it's ensuring that a private copying exception is met with some sort of compensation mechanism, or term extension for sound recordings or simply protection of a creator's moral rights, why is it that UK creators are constantly having to seek support from Brussels and not on our own doorstep?." [CMUDaily]

Industry may start pushing for legislation on net-piracy policing as ISP negotiations falter
Whether it's led by UK Music or the BPI or another trade body, someone may need to step up their lobbying activity regarding making internet service providers take more responsibility for tackling online piracy.

As much previously reported, record label trade body the BPI and six ISPs last year signed a memorandum of understanding which saw the net firms commit send out warning letters to suspected file sharers as a way of preparing the ground for more detailed discussions on how the record companies and net firms could work together to combat piracy and collaborate on new digital music services that could be bundled into ISP's monthly subscriptions." [CMUDaily]

Illegal downloads don’t equate to lost sales, says U.S. judge
"A sort of interesting ruling in the US courts now which may have an impact on how content owners calculate their losses in online piracy cases.
The ruling comes from a criminal copyright action against Daniel Dove, who ran the Elite Torrents message board in 2004 and 2005, providing access to illegal sources of both music and movies. He's already been jailed for 18 months for his involvement in the infringing torrent group, and was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

However, two parties, the Recording Industry Association Of America and movie makers Lionsgate Entertainment, have also made claims for 'restitution'; basically they want to be compensated for the losses they claim they suffered as a result of Dove's torrent service (legally speaking, restitution is subtly different to compensation, but that's in essence what they want)." [CMUDaily]

Rough Trade distribution has MBO
"More indie distribution news for you, and Netherlands-based Rough Trade Distribution, linked back in the day to the London based record shop and label but long since a separate entity, has been bought out by its management." [CMUDaily]

Survey Finds ISPs Number One Choice Of Music Provider
"An international survey of more than 1300 music fans has found that the music industry is offering them the wrong kind of new music services. In the research conducted by The Leading Question and Music Ally in the UK, US and France, music fans overwhelmingly backed Internet Service Providers as their favoured music supplier when asked to choose amongst a variety of possible providers.

46% of the survey chose ISPs as their number one music service provider, compared to 10% preferring cable/satellite TV providers, 5% opting for mobile operators while a meagre 3% considered handset manufacturers best placed to deliver music to them. ISPs were also rated top choice provider for ‘unlimited’ music services, this despite mobile operators and handset manufacturers currently offering more of these services." [MusicAlly]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 16/01/09

MA judge OKs streaming of music-swapping hearing
"A federal judge on Wednesday authorized the first online streaming of oral arguments in a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts in a copyright infringement lawsuit that pits a Boston University graduate student against the music recording industry.

U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner restricted the live streaming to a Jan. 22 hearing, saying she will decide later whether to make other proceedings in the case, set for March 30 trial, available online.
The lawsuit is one of a series filed by the Recording Industry Association of America since 2003 against about 35,000 people who allegedly swapped songs online. Most of those sued are college students, and many have defaulted or settled for amounts between $3,000 and $10,000, often without legal counsel." [Google]

DtecNet, the anti-piracy outfit replacing MediaSentry as the RIAA’s chief evidence collector, also operates in several other countries. The Danish company is working for the BPI in Britain in support of its drive to force a “3 strikes” regime, and helping in Australian investigations against alleged pirates. We take a closer look.
"Earlier this month it was confirmed that the RIAA was dumping its anti-piracy partner, MediaSentry. After five years of legal action and mass lawsuits it decided its relationship with the notorious tracking company should come to an end. Some commentators believed that this signaled the end of the RIAA’s legal action against file-sharers, but that is definitely not the case.

The RIAA will now be working with DtecNet, a Danish anti-piracy tracking company which employs largely the same techniques as MediaSentry, but the aims will be slightly different in the majority of cases. The new tactic for the IFPI-headed music industry is to target ISPs instead, lobbying governments to implement the dreaded “3 strikes” or “graduated response” scheme reported so often in recent months." [TorrentFreak]

Universal digital chief on iTunes, DRM, and Android
"Rio Caraeff didn't come up in the music business scouring nightclubs and honkey tonks for talented new acts. Caraeff, executive vice president of Universal Music Group's eLabs, has a background in mobile technology and software. Nonetheless, he just might be the prototype for the label exec of the future.

Unlike more traditional industry suits, Caraeff doesn't believe litigation is the answer to piracy. He doesn't believe in copy-protection software. He doesn't believe that the music industry needs to find a strong competitor to Apple to flourish. What he does believe in nurturing new revenue streams and pruning 10-click online music shopping to one. He believes in the power of mobile devices to sell music (he says Google's cell phone, Android, is proving to be a powerful music-buying tool)." [CNet]

Longer copyrights for songs would deal a blow to our cultural heritage
"If Charlie McCreevy, the European commissioner for the internal market, has his way, the copyright on music will be extended from 50 to 95 years, making the Beatles' ‘Yesterday' and their other early hits ‘free' not in around six years' time but 50 or more years from now.

McCreevy's proposed directive, on which the European Parliament's legal affairs committee will vote in February, pleases the recording industry, which has long lobbied for it, but it has provoked fierce criticism from economists and lawyers. Their criticism is not surprising, for the industry's arguments are flimsy. The Commission has nonetheless been persuaded, aided probably by the idea of a ‘musicians' fund', which would receive 20% of the revenue from selling old recordings.
But most economists argue that a ten-year term should be enough to ‘incentivise' the creative muse. And, for those interested in Europe's culture, the downside of long protection would be that a large part of our heritage would be consigned to a commercial vacuum, with numerous works orphaned because their authors cannot readily be located.

The European Commission acknowledges the problem in the directive's ‘use it or lose it' clause. But this is so poorly drafted it would have little practical effect." [EuropeanVoice]

US Public Affairs - 16/01/09

10myths

"These writings originally appeared in a five-part series on the Copyright Alliance blog, blog.copyrightalliance.org, and cover topics ranging from the impact of copyright on innovation to whether content companies are embracing new business models. Proponents of these arguments will naturally find fault with my criticisms. Some will ignore my evidence that appear indisputable and instead seize on a phrase I may not have clearly articulated and present a counter-argument based on that misinterpretation. But some will make counter-arguments that are well-thought out and may be in some cases hard to rebut. I believe firmly that on the whole my themes here are sound but there could always be examples that I would have to consider at minimum exceptions to my theses. I don’t pretend to have all the answers.” [CopyrightAlliance]

The RIAA Ends Music Download War

"Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) fired MediaSentry, the Recording company it used to help it gather evidence for mass lawsuits it filed against people it claimed were illegally uploading copyrighted music. It would seem that the RIAA is finally coming to its senses and realizing that the way forward is not to use scare tactics or sue, but perhaps to accept the new technologies and maybe even embrace them." [IPWatchdog]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 05/01/09

Les producteurs belges contre les sites illégaux
"Les producteurs belges de musique, de films et de jeux vidéo, représentés par la Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), demandent mardi, dans un communiqué, que les sites illégaux de téléchargement soient bloqués « le plus rapidement possible » par les fournisseurs belges d'accès à internet.

Selon la BEA, les auteurs, les artistes mais aussi les consommateurs sont victimes de ces sites. Dans son édition de janvier 2009, Test-Achats passe au crible un certain nombre de sites musicaux qui proposent le téléchargement payant." [LeSoir]

Spanish Web Users Angry At Anti-P2P Campaign
"Spain's Association of Internet Users (AI) has demanded that the culture ministry cancel a national campaign against P2P file-sharing and illegal downloads called "If you are legal, you're legal." The adjective 'legal' in Spanish can also mean 'okay' or 'good' when applied to a person.
According to an AI statement, the campaign "recklessly offers information that lacks all legal basis, with the exclusive aim of re-educating public opinion."

The campaign launched in late November on TV, radio and in the press. It shows people downloading, with comments from some who defend legal or paid downloads, and criticises those who download illegally, without paying. The campaign also specifically criticises P2P file-sharing." [Billboard]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 30/12/08

Choruss: legal file sharing on campus 11th December 2008
"The plan to provide US students with compulsory flat-fee music finally has a name, it emerged this week. Choruss LLC will provide participating universities with a replacement for their current subscription services such as Rhapsody, and has the backing of the the EFF and the tacit support of the RIAA. That alone indicates the magnitude of the initiative. When have those two lobbying groups ever agreed on music policy?

This, the worst kept secret in the music business, leaked out in April, when Jim Griffin confirmed he had been engaged by Warner Music to seek deals that would help end the litigation strategy against students, and replace it with a steady pool of income for the rights holders. (Griffin has spent a decade campaigning to "monetize the anarchy" of digital music - see our 2004 interview)." [TheRegister]

Has Boston University Left Its Safe Harbor and Become Liable for Students' Piracy? 12. 2.2008
"Defenders of the most egregious, blatant forms of online copyright piracy often suffer from what could be called Wile-E.-Coyote syndrome: They can become so fixated on throttling the roadrunner of copyright protection that they fail to notice that they have just run off a cliff and begun plunging downward.

For example, a federal judge has reportedly held that Boston University (BU) is such an incompetent internet-access provider that it cannot disclose the identities of allegedly infringing users of its network. In London-Sire Records, Inc. v. Does 1-4, Judge Gertner's recent order granted BU's "Motion to Quash" because "[BU] has adequately demonstrated that it is not able to identify the alleged infringers with a reasonable degree of technical certainty."

Continue reading Has Boston University Left Its Safe Harbor and Become Liable for Students' Piracy? . . ."

New Op-Ed December 30, 2008
"Rick Carnes and I co-wrote an op-ed on ISP music licensing (as exemplified by the Choruss operation) for Content Agenda that might be of interest.

http://www.contentagenda.com/article/CA6625534.html?industryid=45173t

Coolfer published a couple comments on the op-ed. Let it be known that I dig Glenn and Coolfer and I'm just clarifying a couple things he mentioned (also just speaking for myself here and not for my co-author).

One of the points we made is that an unlimited download service at below market rates undermines the investment that legitimate services have spent and committed. (I refuse to use "all you can eat" to describe these services as that phrase grates on me as comparing music to, let's say, a potato, which I won't do.) The point (which I made in more detail in a recent article for the ABA) is that users are already paying for the very Internet connection they use to buy their music from legitimate services. If you tell them that they only need to pay $5 a month more for all the music they want from what were once illegal "services"--well, I think you see where that goes. The idea seems to be that students could get rid of their Rhapsody accounts, which appears to make EFF very happy." [MusicTechPolicy]

Don't Make Kids Online Crooks December 29, 2008 Monday
"Seventy-five years ago, Prohibition ended. Just 13 years after launching an extraordinary experiment in social reform, the nation recognized that the battle against "intoxicating liquors" had failed. Organized crime had exploded. Civil rights had been weakened. And an enormous number of ordinary Americans had become "criminals" as they found ways to evade, and profit from the evasion of, this hopeless law.

We're about a decade into our own hopeless war of prohibition, this one against "peer-to-peer piracy." The copyright industry has used every legal means within its reach (and some that may not be so legal) to stop Internet "pirates" from "sharing" copyrighted content without permission. These "copyright wars"--what the late Jack Valenti, former head of the Motion Picture Association of America, called his own "terrorist war" in which apparently the "terrorists" are our kids--have consumed an ever growing amount of legal resources. The Recording Industry Association of America alone has sued tens of thousands of individuals. These suits allege millions of dollars in damages. And schools across the nation have adopted strict policies to block activity that the Supreme Court in 2005 declared presumptively illegal." [ContentAgenda]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 24/12/08

Internet Piracy: No, Virginia, There Really Is No "Competing" Against Yourself for "Free"
"CNET and others report about a charming new steal-don't-buy browser extension that reminds Amazon.com shoppers that much of Amazon's legal content can be downloaded illegally "4 Free" from The Pirate Bay. If correct, such reports expose the truly self-destructive venality of Internet piracy. They also expose the vacuity of an argument favored by defenders of piracy--the claim that content creators (and law-abiding distributors) can or should "compete against free." Usually, persons spouting this claim cite the case of "bottled water" as a real-life example. For two reasons, this example refutes their vapid claim.

First, this claim understates the achievement of commercial creators of bottled water and content. They compete not only against "free"--but against competitors whose goods seem free because their production costs and risks are subsidized by non-market sources like taxation. Creators of works like movies, music, and books, like creators of bottled water, have long competed successfully against "free" tax-subsidized alternatives (like tap water). In other words, private companies produced bottled water because they concluded that if they incurred the costs and took the risks needed to create high-quality water, taxpayers who have already paid for the "free" water produced by the County Water Board would pay again to purchase higher quality water from a private source." [IPCentral]

The hitman, the Pirate Bay and the freetard prof 10th December 2008
“Since Duchamp's urinal, a great deal of modern art has been a "prank" against the art establishment. Maybe that's why now, state-funded "pranks" like the Pirates plug-in - designed to preach to the converted - feel so stale. Or it could be Cramer's own deeply conservative (and misanthropic) outlook. By design, the course ensures his students fulfill a narrow set of ideological obligations - all of which are de rigeur in modern media theory.

And that, we must conclude, is exactly what the modern state requires from its "radicals". Rather than being outside the tent pissing in, they're quite content to be on the inside, launching Firefox browser plug-ins outwards. Repressive regimes once persecuted dissidents - now they merely need give them cushy jobs on Media Theory courses to render them useless. They'll do the rest.” [TheRegister]

Hollywood wants in on ISP "graduated responses," too : December 24, 2008 - "Graduated response" isn't just for music
"Ars has learned that the Motion Picture Association of America has been having similar discussions with US ISPs for some time and has already been involved in trial projects. The results of this limited testing have been encouraging to the movie business, as they show that most people do in fact stop sharing files illegally after receiving a simple warning from their Internet provider.

The recording industry made waves last week by announcing a set of voluntary agreements with American ISPs to pass warnings (and eventually sanctions) to users accused of sharing files illegally over P2P networks. The scheme is similar in concept to the recent deals in the UK and France, but such graduated response mechanisms are actually under consideration all over the world." [ArsTechnica]

"Can I resell my MP3s?": the post-sale life of digital goods: Second time's a charm December 17, 2008
"The Castaway" is not a very good book. Published in 1908, Hallie Ermine Rives' novel opens with these deeply unpromising sentences:

"A cool breeze slipped ahead of the dawn. It blew dim the calm Greek stars, stirred the intricate branches of olive trees inlaid in the rose-pearl facade of sky, bowed the tall, coral-lipped oleanders lining the rivulets, and crisped the soft wash of the gulf-tide. It lifted the strong bronze curls on the brow of a sleeping man who lay on the sea-beach covered with a goatskin." [ArsTechnica]

UK talks mashups, DRM, CD ripping as it opens copyright overhaul December 17, 2008
"The UK's Intellectual Property Office has some odd ideas. In thinking about the "future agenda on copyright" in Britain, the agency recognizes the disconnect the law and common actions like CD ripping, feels the pain of mashup artists who have no real way to clear rights, knows that DRM can currently override statutory copyright exemptions, and wants to hear especially from creators and users. David Lammy, the minister in charge of higher education and intellectual property, even puts quote marks around "online music 'piracy'."

The occasion for all this attention do digital copyright issues is UK IPO's new "© the future: Keeping ahead of the game" consultation. The government has a wide-ranging scheme called Digital Britain that various ministries have been at work on for several months, and the chance to think about copyright's future is part of the UK plan to make Britain a hub for the digital and creative industries. Government statistics already show that the creative industries generated 8.2 percent of GDP in 2007 and are growing twice as fast as the overall economy." [ArsTechnica]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 19/12/08

RIAA to end its “Sue The World” policy
“In a week dominated by the Leonard Cohen classic, can I just say "hallelujah". A year that began with the news all four majors had ended their kamikaze love affair with digital rights management, is ending with the news that the Recording Industry Association Of America is axing its other self-defeating, unhelpful, surely-record-company-execs-cant-be-this-dumb policy of suing individual music fans over their use of P2P file sharing technology to acquire or share unlicensed music.

From the word go the RIAA has been at the forefront of the litigious approach to tackling the piracy threat of the internet, which was good news for lawyers, but bad news for pretty much everyone else, not least the record companies who had to foot the bill for the legal campaign that was destined to fail from the word go, and which destroyed the already sagging reputation of the record industry at a time when it needed public and consumer support, partly because the labels were clearly going to have to develop direct customer relationships moving forward, and partly because it needed enough goodwill to fight for a re-evaluation of copyright systems.
The original strategy was to sue any company making P2P networking possible. But it soon became clear that suing Napster, Grokster, Kazaa et al was not effective because, even when the US courts eventually started to find in the labels' favour, the kids had always transferred their loyalties to newer P2P systems by the time older ones had been sued out of business.” [CMUDaily]

Culture announced an imminent "unpopular" measure against piracy
“Molina says that EU ministers have in their agenda actions against practices "illegitimate"

Today, Cesar Antonio Molina, the Spanish Culture Minister, announced that "not too late" there will be legislation, "which is likely to be unpopular" to regulate Internet piracy, a practice that has branded as "illegitimate" during the ‘Breakfast Briefing Europe Press’ and that, in his view, affects the whole culture.

Asked about the possibility of blinding access to Internet pirates repeat, Molina has stated that they are "exploring ways" and that "not too late there will be a regulation" this whole issue. Probably it’ll be a regulation that will be very unpopular, but what is unpopular, dilapidated and a disaster is that thousands of jobs that gives the culture will disappear by this illegal action. That can’t be allowed, he said.

Also, Molinas says that from the Ministry of Culture is struggling and acting very well" against piracy since "many fronts" and that at European ministers meetings is a "reiterative theme”, with the development of new laws and new forms of organization, to prevent piracy, "a termite that is destroying entire network of industry, to acquire such extreme shades."” [UFI]

Copyright cop wedding crashers fined by Spanish court
“The next time you have a wedding, make sure your videographer isn't a secret spy for the RIAA or similar copyright group. This real-life scenario happened to a couple in Spain thanks to the efforts of the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE), a rights group for musicians and artists. But although the group managed to bust the reception venue for copyright violations, SGAE itself has been fined for violating the privacy of the newlyweds.

The incident originally took place back in 2005, when SGAE snuck a private detective into the wedding reception acting as a cameraman. The group had suspected the venue—La Doma restaurant near Seville, Spain—for using music without paying royalties. Predictably, this series of events have horrified privacy advocates who argue that the couple's privacy was breached. As noted by The Sunday Times, however, the issue has come to light recently because SGAE has increased its efforts to catch venues that are avoiding royalty payments, and another, similar case is about to go to court.” [ArsTechnica]

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]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 05/12/08

Stepping up the fight against piracy
"The EU struggles to come up with an effective set-up for intellectual property rights. The EU constantly stresses the importance of promoting a knowledge-based economy. But one of the crucial components of a knowledge-based economy, as the European Commission and national governments have repeatedly acknowledged, is an effective set-up for protecting intellectual property rights. Without protection for intellectual property, runs the argument, inventors and innovators will take their talents elsewhere and businesses will not develop the new products, services and technologies needed if the EU is to be an area of innovation.

Holders of intellectual property rights need to be sure that the revenue from their brands and inventions is maximised and counterfeiting and piracy is adequately tackled both inside the Union and in the rest of the world." [EuropeanVoice]

Can the EU protect intellectual property? (I) by Karin Riis-Jørgensen MEP
"Europe needs modern solutions to tackle the problems that counterfeiters of digital and physical goods pose to intellectual property rights. There is no doubt that protection of intellectual property is and will be one of the major challenges for Europe in the future. In a global world we need to protect our property rights and trademarks. The growth of the counterfeiting industry is partly a consequence of globalisation, since more than half of the counterfeit goods that come to Europe are from China. But globalisation is also the reason why we need to protect our trademarks. For many companies, production is no longer profitable in Europe, but development is. And that is what we are good at in Europe and what we need to protect. If new designs and goods are copied as soon as they enter the market, development will no longer be profitable in Europe." [EuropeanVoice]

Can the EU protect intellectual property? (II) by Arlene McCarthy MEP
"Counterfeiting and piracy pose serious threats to business and governments, but also put European consumers at great risk. Global counterfeiting and piracy continues to rise. It accounts for some 7% of world trade and in 2007 European customs officers registered more than 43,000 cases of fake goods seized at the EU's external border, compared to 37,000 in 2006. An increase of almost 17%.

Legitimate business is damaged by the loss of sales haemorrhaging to counterfeit and pirated goods and services. Europe is a centre of excellence for promoting innovation and creative products. The creative media and business information sector alone is worth more than €350 billion, but counterfeiting and piracy rob entre-preneurs of vital resources for research and development investment in new innovative products and services, and undermine Europe's attempt to increase its competitiveness and create jobs." [EuropeanVoice]

Canadian Copyright Board Opens Hearing On Music Tariffs
"The Canadian Copyright Board kicked off a large-scale hearing today in Ottawa over arguments about multiple tariffs that cover everything from performing rights in songs to mechanical reproduction rights.
"It's sure to be a landmark hearing, if only because it's the first time that the board has combined all radio-related tariffs into a single proceeding," says David Basskin, president of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA).

The hearing will take more than a week and will hear debates over several tariffs, including those brought forward by the Society of Authors, Composers, and Music Publishers of Canada for performing rights in songs, an application by CMRRA and Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec dealing with reproduction rights, the Neighbouring Rights Collective of Canada and La Société de gestion collective de l'Union des artistes involving performing rights as well as the AVLA Audio-Video Licensing Agency and Quebec Collective Society for the Rights of Makers of Sound and Video Recordings." [Billboard]

Exclusive: Indies vs. Spain
In a desperate move to save jobs and preserve a hard-built cultural and commercial industry, a group of music companies and retailers are nearing a decision to file a legal action against the government of Spain, Music Confidential has learned. Executives believe the government is shirking its responsibility to protect the companies' intellectual property and commercial rights from Internet piracy.

Not only would this be the first lawsuit of its kind, but the twist is that it is not being led by multinational corporations. This move is driven by small- and medium-sized independent Spanish enterprises. Sources say that at least one other independent music group will also be monitoring their progress with an eye toward filing similar actions against the governments of other European Union member states. The governments of Germany and Italy may be next in line. [MusicConfidential]

Merlin honoured by Spanish government
"Indie global rights agency Merlin has been honoured at the International Forum on Digital Content (FICOD) in Madrid. Merlin board member Mark Kitcatt was presented with the award for Improving Competition For Independent Music Companies by Spanish Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Sr. D. Miguel Sebastian.
The award recognises the work that Merlin is doing to enhance the ability of independents to access the online space and to develop the digital market.

Merlin CEO Charles Caldas says, “We are delighted to have received this award and that the tremendous efficiency and global reach that Merlin provides those wishing to license the world’s most exciting and commercially valuable independent repertoire has been recognised.”" [MusicWeek]

Burnham to keep pressure on ISPs
Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has again signalled that the Government is in no mood for messing and will legislate should ISPs not make progress on piracy. Speaking at last night’s Squaring The Circle MusicTank, which was the final of four networking sessions examining alternatives to illegal file sharing, Burnham told industry executives that he is “determined to bring the issue to a conclusion”. He added that pressure will be kept on the ISPs to ensure progress with the ongoing Memorandum of Understanding does not slip.

Burnham told the networking group, which also featured contributions from Dan Klein, Detica media accounts director, Simon Persoff, Orange UK director, legal and regulatory and Richard Mollet, the BPI’s public affairs director, that the success of the MoU will be seen over a two to three year timescale and that the parties need to “find solutions which reward creators. It is in the public interest for there to be a workable system of copyright.”
He added that the creative industries and the internet are now mainstream, so the debate is changing and the need for government to have a role is becoming clearer – “the internet is not a place where governments can’t go”." [MusicWeek]

UK consumers, Big Content battle over three-strikes rules
"Although France's "graduated response" proceedings have attracted the most attention, the UK is in the midst of a consultation of its own on how to involve both content owners and ISPs in some sort of response to P2P file-sharing. The government is pushing a co-regulatory approach that would task industry groups with hashing out the details of such a plan, while the government would make sure that any agreement is fair, competitive, and preserves privacy. With all the responses now in, the UK music industry is clearly pleased that it won't have to pursue 6.5 million copyright infringers on its own. Digital rights groups are... less excited.

The entire consultation is helmed by BERR , the UK agency that handles Business, Enterprise, & Regulatory Reform, and it stems from the famous (in certain circles, anyway) Gowers Review of intellectual property that we covered extensively back in 2006 . That report, which took a top-to-bottom look at UK copyright and IP policy, was stuffed with plenty of consumer-friendly ideas, such as no new copyright term extensions. But it also contained good news for rightsholders, such as a suggestion that the government step in if ISPs and rightsholders couldn't agree on how to handle the issue of P2P file-sharing." [ArsTechnica]

ISPs sign voluntary code on speed
""BT, Virgin Media, Talk Talk and Tiscali are among a group of Internet Service Providers which have signed up to Ofcom’s new voluntary code of practice governing broadband speeds.
Ofcom had found a rising number of ISPs were selling their services by claiming faster and faster broadband speeds to download music, games and films. But, few customers were seeing the tangible benefits.
The regulator, therefore, asked ISPs to provide better and more realistic information and sign up to the code of practice on how they present broadband speeds.
The eight principles of the code cover areas such as training and information at point of sale to ensure that customers are aware that they might not get the maximum speed advertised because of technical or other factors. The code also ensures every ISP must have trustworthy systems to find the cause of a speed problem and take steps to fix any issue that is down to them." [MusicWeek]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 02/12/08

Songbeat: Making music piracy easier than ever? 02/12/08
"While illegal P2P file-sharing is still seen as the biggest threat to the music industry, other forms of online piracy are coming up on the inside. Take a look at the new version of an application called Songbeat, for example." [MusicAlly]

SongBeat: The New Music Piracy Tool That Will End Up Closing Soon Enough! December 2nd, 2008
"In the current climate P2P and Bittorrent file sharing isnt seen as illegal in all countries, but overall it has to be the biggest threat on the music industry because of its nature.

Songbeat has launched a new version of their service which seems to be taking piracy to a new level." [RouteNote]

Songbeat Makes Searching For Music Online Really Simple December 1, 2008
"There’s a new version of Songbeat, a simple but powerful desktop application for discovering music online, and I like it. When it was first released earlier this year, the client only enabled you to search for music online using Seeqpod, but the updated version lets you search more engines at once and also lets you easily play, export and download songs." [TechCrunch]

US Public Affairs - 30/11/08

In Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Case, "Distribution" Does Not Mean "Making Available"

"At trial, the plaintiffs sought to prove that the defendant, a single mother in Duluth, had willfully infringed 24 of the plaintiffs' recordings by downloading and distributing them via the peer-to-peer program Kazaa. Finding that the defendant had infringed, the jury awarded the plaintiffs statutory damages of $9,250 per song, for a total of $222,000. The defendant filed a motion for a new trial or, in the alternative, for remittitur, calling for a reduction of excessive damages; the plaintiffs filed an unopposed motion to amend judgment, seeking an injunction. Instead, the court elected sua sponte to address the possibility of granting a new trial because of an incorrect jury instruction." [CyberLaw]

Music Sampling Does Not Infringe on Copyright, But…

"The German Supreme Court (BGH) clarified last week that sampling does not infringe on copyright in the work from which samples were taken for the purpose of creating a new work. There is a catch hiding in the details, though. According to the official press release (in German), the highest judicial authority in Germany ruled that a certain statutory exception principally covered instances of sampling. The relevant exception is anchored in section 24 to the German copyright act, known as “free use” (freie Benutzung). Free use is not fair use, but you can think about it as an extreme version of the transformativeness element familiar from the U.S. fair use analysis. Accordingly, the new work must transform the work of which elements it uses into something independent and wholly different. While using the copyrighted elements taken from the prior work, such use should be so transformative that the first work becomes hardly recognizable as the source." [CyberLaw]

Digital Copyright Issues and the Ubiquitous iPod

"The advent of new technologies has resulted in Copyright law having to adapt to new situations and infringements. These technologies, including music formats that contain compression, as well as the reduction in cost and size of hard drives has created significant new challenges and markets for digital content. Even in the short life of the iPod, it has gone from a music device, to a multimedia device. This article examines some of the issues and case law that is relevant to the content revolution created by the iPod." [SSRN]

The Dangers of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Much Ado about Nothing?

"In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at protecting copyright holders from those who might manufacture or traffic technology capable of allowing users to evade piracy protections on the underlying work. At its core, the DMCA flatly prohibits the circumvention of technological protection measures in order to gain access to copyrighted works, with no safety valve for any traditionally protected uses. While hailed as a victory by the software and entertainment industries, the academic and scientific communities have been far less enthusiastic. The DMCA's goal of combating piracy is a noble one, but lurking is the danger that it comes at the expense of public access to protected works and future innovation. Despite America's long history of fair use protections in copyright law, many commentators have warned that consumers now find themselves unable to do many of the same things with copyrighted works that they previously could - anyone who might sell them the technology to access a protected work and enable fair use would find themselves in violation of the DMCA. Worse, early litigation dramatically expanded the definition of what constitutes a technological protection measure deserving of the law's respect. As the definition broadened, scholars feared that even modest innovations - ones that would never qualify for patent protection under existing law - could wind up receiving perpetual patent-like protection through the backdoor of the DMCA. Despite the experts' dire predictions, however, subsequent common law interpretation of the DMCA has reigned in many of its potential dangers - the judiciary's focus is rightly on the need to balance innovators' interests with the equally important goals of public access and enhancing overall social welfare. Nonetheless, coherent and uniform protection of fair use under the DMCA is likely best achieved through Congressional action." [SSRN]

Why Emerging Business Models and Not Copyright Law are the Key to Monetising Content Online

"The multimedia Internet is here to stay. Rich media - including videos, music, podcasts, and flash animation - is already a key feature of the Internet experience, and will only grow in diversity and importance. As Internet users increasingly crave - and technology increasingly enables - multimedia content delivered on demand over broadband connections, the number of songs, videos, and other media online will increase exponentially to feed the demand. As online media consumption increases, so will expectations for its capacity to generate revenue for content owners and creators. Analysts boldly predict a bright future for the entertainment industries, especially in Asia, with broadband Internet cited as a key growth driver. Yet, to date, the vast majority of music and video acquired or consumed online is free and uncompensated. Despite the rising expectations for monetizing content on the Web, no clear sustainable, scalable model for monetizing content has emerged that compares to the level of revenues copyright owners have enjoyed in the "physical" (as opposed to online) market." [SSRN]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 28/11/08

Danish court confirms Pirate Bay is illegal & orders access to be blocked by ISP
"Music companies internationally today welcomed a landmark Danish ruling involving the world’s best known pirate distributor of music, books and films. The decision confirms the illegality of Sweden's Pirate Bay and requires a Danish ISP to implement measures to block access to the site.

The judgment delivered yesterday by the Danish appeal court upholds the decision earlier this year requiring access to the Pirate Bay to be blocked. The court confirmed the mass scale infringement taking place on the Pirate Bay site and that the ISP in question, Sonofon, is contributing to the infringements by allowing access to the pirate site. It is the latest step forward in attempts by the creative industries to engage ISPs in helping stop massive copyright infringement on the internet." [MusicWeek]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 28/11/08

Monopoly of collecting societies' activities: infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic and Hungary
"The European Commission has decided to send reasoned opinions to the Czech Republic and Hungary on the grounds of obstacles to the freedom of establishment and to the freedom to provide services as a result of the monopolies granted to national rights management companies.

Czech and Hungarian laws provide that a single collecting society may be authorised to operate in their respective countries for each type of right and work. This monopoly granted to national companies bans collecting societies set up in other Member States from undertaking any form of activity and denies them the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services. The Commission has doubts as to the justification of those national measures in the light of their negative effects on two of the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the EC Treaty." [Europa]

The latest information on infringement proceedings concerning all Member States is available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/index_en.htm

EMI Music CEO Applauds Govt Action On ISPs
"EMI Music CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti has spoken of his support for the U.K. government's and others' attempts to get ISPs to tackle illegal file-sharing, while admitting the music industry failed to adapt to changes in consumer behavior. Leoni-Sceti appeared at U.K. media/telecoms regulator Ofcom's Next Generation Net Generation conference in London. Vivendi chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy was also among the business leaders at the conference.

The EMI Music CEO appeared on a panel, "Global Content Economy - Challenges for Business," alongside executives including Telefonica Europe CEO Ronan Dunne, Nikesh Arora, president EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) operations, Google, and Roma Khanna, president, global networks & digital initiatives at NBC Universal. Pledging to transform EMI into a "consumer-focused music company," Leoni-Sceti commented: "The new EMI wants to be the most consumer-led, innovative music company in the world - that means listening to our consumers and putting the consumer experience at the heart of our business strategy."A consultation process was recently concluded by the U.K. government, following this summer's brokering of a Memorandum of Understanding between the music industry and ISPs. Part of the agreement includes a pledge by ISPs to write letters to customers who are involved in illegal peer-to-peer activity." [BillBoard] [CMUDaily]

Artists send video message to PM over copyright term
"More from the campaign to persuade Gordon Brown to increase the recorded music copyright term now - and this time the protests have been presented in video form. As much much previously reported, record labels and recording artists have been lobbying the government regarding extending the recording copyright from 50 to 95 years for ages now; the former because the legendary recordings of the rock n roll era are about to come out of copyright; the latter because there is a whole generation of session musicians who will soon start to lose the royalty payments that stem from recordings they worked on in the sixties, which for some are a bulk of their earnings. " [CMUDaily]

EURO LICENSING: THE HARD ROAD AHEAD
"There is no 'us' and 'them' any longer. With nearly 50% of all music consumed by Europeans classified as international repertoire and the rest considered to be essential local music preserving the cultural identities of each European Union (EU) nation, the troubled state of licensing digital publishing rights is not, as some said a few years back, 'a European problem.' After intervention by the European Commission (EC), the current structures for licensing these rights are seen by some to be as volatile as the financial markets. How everyone responds to the situation will inevitably impact the future of recorded music, music publishing, digital and mobile music services and broadcasting -- and everyone else in the creator-to-consumer chain of distribution. Considering the importance of intellectual property as a significant contributor to worldwide economies, figuring out solutions during this economic crisis, in the midst of the physical-to-digital music transition, becomes even more essential.

Music Confidential reached out to senior executives and lawyers throughout Europe to shed some light, and perhaps a bit of insight, on problems and possible solutions following the EC's mandate to restructure rights and operating procedures among the network of collecting societies. Despite an extraordinary amount of angst and concern among the interested parties, there are opportunities and some optimism to report." [MusicConfidential]

Conference calls on WIPO to Boost Support for Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights
"A conference on the future evolution of collective management of copyright and related rights in Europe has called on WIPO to step up efforts to help stakeholders address the emerging challenges facing collective management. Participants urged WIPO to strengthen the copyright infrastructure so as to support creative industries and promote social, economic and cultural development.

The Conference on Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights in Europe, held in Brussels from November 24 to 25, 2008, was organized by WIPO in association with the European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (GESAC) and in cooperation with the Association of European Performers’ Organisations (AEPO-ARTIS), and the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC)." [WIPO]

The European IP market needs a revolution
"The European R&D and patenting world treat intellectual property as a legal right and nothing else. Most companies and investors want that attitude to change. If it does, a number of exciting possibilities can begin to emerge.What Europe needs most is intermediaries from outside the law
A recent EPO survey revealed that 60% of European companies do not care if the inventions and technologies they find and use are patented or not (which surely helps explain the modest levels of patent registrations in many EU countries!). At the same time, however, countless European surveys have revealed that technological innovation is the priority for the EU's institutions, as well as national and regional governments, industrial associations and others; and that European companies are very keen to improve technological innovation (including R&D outsourcing) as key weapon in the global competition race.
These conflicting findings tell us a few key things about the type of IP market Europe should adopt, given that improving its existing one is an official target, as set out by EU leaders in the Lisbon Agreement."

The complete article (and the accompanying charts) in .pdf format is saved on the shared file (in the Monitoring section). A text version can be read on:
http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:3BkUjCSMfg8J:www.wipo.int/sme/en/best_practices/pdf/european_ip_market.pdf+WIPO+European+IP+Market+needs+a+revolution&hl=nl&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=be [WIPO]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 27/11/08

France votes for 'three strikes' filesharing law
The French senate has voted overwhelmingly in favour of Nicolas Sarkozy's anti-piracy legislation that offers illegal filesharers two warnings before cutting off their internet access

This week, as ever, it's one step forward and two steps back for the recording industry's anti-piracy legislation. Even as France seems poised to pass a new "three strikes" law against filesharers, lobbyists in Denmark have given up on the chance of passing similar legislation.

On Monday, the French senate voted 297 to 15 in favour of a law that penalises illegal filesharers by cutting off their internet access. Under the legislation, internet providers would be forced to act as watchdogs, monitoring their customers' internet traffic for signs of copyright infringement. Anyone caught illegally sharing music, movies or games would receive two warnings before having their account terminated. [Guardian]

Call for clampdown on rogue online ticket sellers October 27 2008
Ticketing websites have called on the government to crack down on rogue online operators after a spate of high-profile examples of consumers being ripped off. Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, is believed to be close to launching an industry consultation based around proposals first floated this year in response to concerns about the booming online market in tickets for concerts and sporting events. [Guardian]

Last.fm Asks UK "Hackers" To Help Extend Reach: Contest Offers £1000 Prize 2008.11.27
Last_fm Last.fm will host “Hack Day” on December 14th at Corbet Place Bar, East London. At the event which is hosted in partnership with CodePlex, Microsoft's open source project hosting web site, developers will be invited to utilize Last.fm’s free open source web services in a one-day competition to build a new Last.fm application. The winning developer will receive a grand prize of £1000, with additional prizes for the competition’s runners-up including Xbox 360s.Available since the site’s inception in 2002, Last.fm’s web services, which developers can use to extend the Last.fm experience beyond the site, have been utilized by third parties to create a host of music applications showcased at Build.Last.fm. One popular application, a mash-up titled “LastTube”, utilizes listener data from Last.fm to recommend YouTube video clips. [HypeBot]

Europe's cultural heritage goes digital 21 Nov 2008
Europe's heritage went digital on Thursday when the European Union launched an online library putting famous works such as Dante's Divine Comedy and Beethoven's 9th Symphony just a mouse click away.

Europeana gives multilingual access to two million digitised books and other items of cultural and historical significance held in more than 1,000 institutions in the 27 EU states. [ZDNet]

EU Council Monitor - 21/11/08

Culture Council
"All the conclusions of the Culture Council can be downloaded on the Council website. The most important documents are already saved on available on the shared folder/EU Presidencies/French Presidency" [Consilium]

Christine Albanel a présidé aujourd'hui à Bruxelles Le Conseil des ministres en charge de la Culture et de l'Audiovisuel de l'Union européenne
"Ce Conseil a permis l’adoption par les ministres de plusieurs textes importants négociés par la présidence française lors de ces derniers mois. En premier lieu, les ministres soutiendront et assureront la pérennité et le développement du projet de Bibliothèque numérique européenne. Ce projet, lancé aujourd’hui à la suite du Conseil, en présence du Président de la Commission européenne, José-Manuel Barroso, rend accessible à tous (sur www.europeana.eu) 2 millions de documents, aussi bien livres, qu’archives écrites et audiovisuelles, et collections des musées européens." [Culture]

Clôture de l’année européenne du dialogue interculturel
"The complete speech made by Albanel at the Centre Georges Pompidou last Wednesday" [Culture]

Forum d’Avignon
"The complete opening and closing speeches of Albanel" [Culture]

Europe's cultural history goes digital
"Europeana, a new digital library intended to bring millions of examples of Europe's cultural heritage into homes across the world, went on-line today.
The multimedia library already contains more than two million digitalised books, maps, recordings, photographs and paintings, and the Commission envisages that by 2010 over 10 million works will be on-line." [EuropeanVoice]

EU ministers reject ban on free downloading
"EU culture ministers yesterday (20 November) rejected French proposals to curb online piracy through compulsory measures against free downloading, instead agreeing to promote legal offers of music or films on the Internet.

The EU Culture Council pushed yesterday (20 November) for "a fair balance between the various fundamental rights" while fighting online piracy, first listing "the right to personal data protection," then "the freedom of information" and only lastly "the protection of intellectual property".

The Council conclusions also stressed the importance of "consumers' expectations in terms of access […] and diversity of the content offered online". No mention was made of a gradual response to serial downloaders of illegal cultural material, as foreseen by the French authorities." [Euractiv]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 18/11/08

Tennessee anti-P2P law to cost colleges over $13 million November 18, 2008
With the RIAA's long-running legal war against file-sharing not having the desired effects, the music industry has turned its sights on legislation aimed at getting others to do the dirty work of copyright enforcement. Last week, they scored a victory when the state of Tennessee passed a law that would require colleges and universities to work to prevent copyright infringement over campus networks. It's great news for the RIAA, but bad news for Tennessee students and taxpayers who will have to foot the $13 million bill.

SB 3974 was introduced this past February into the state legislature. Championed by the RIAA, who pointed to the University of Tennessee's no. 4 position on the list of top music piracy schools, and the MPAA, which noted the school's no. 19 spot on its infringement list, the law will force both public and private schools in the state to implement policies to prevent and prohibit copyright infringement on campus computers and networks." [ArsTechnica]

Antipiracy group pushes 10 years jail time for UK infringers November 19, 2008
"Those guilty of online copyright infringement deserve criminal sentencings that are just as harsh as those who've been busted for commercial physical piracy, according to a UK-based antipiracy group. The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) is pushing the UK's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to adopt modifications to current copyright law that would punish online infringers with 10 years of imprisonment, "to bring parity with commercial dealing in pirated works."

The IPO is currently in the process of considering changes to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 based on the independently-conducted Gowers Review of Intellectual Property. The Gowers report, wrapped up in 2007, concluded that, "the intention and impact of physical and online infringement are the same. Crimes committed on the online and physical world should not be subject to different sentences. Increasing the penalties for online infringement will therefore make the law coherent." As a result, Gowers wrote that punishment for online infringers should be increased to 10 years in jail, suggestion that's now known as Recommendation 36." [ArsTechnica]

What’s wrong with ISP Music Licensing Fall 2008
"The decline of revenues in the music industry has led the industry to take a closer look at the responsibilities of Internet service providers “ISPs” and alternative compensation schemes both in the United States and in Europe. Many schemes have been considered to compensate the creative community for these losses, including the ida that ISPs could charge all or some of their users a small fee on a monthly basis that each ISP would pay to the creative community as compensation in return for the user’s ability to trade content files without fear of litigation or prosecution. It is worth noting that with very few exceptions, ISPs themselves are not leading the charge to undertake this burden, and it is only within the very recent past hat ISPs have entered into industry wide agreements to support anti-piracy efforts on their networks. Anti-piracy efforts are a long way from ISP licensing…." [ChristianCastle]

How Canada Fought Bad Copyright Law: Showing Why Copyright Law Matters
"You may recall, just about a year ago, there was suddenly a bunch of news over the possibility of Canada introducing its own version of the US's Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). To the surprise of both the entertainment industry (who helped craft the law) and the politicians who were pushing it, the opposition to this law was incredibly successful in getting its message out. Starting with calls on various blogs and Facebook groups, kicked off by law professor Michael Geist, the issue became a big one throughout the media. The politicians who promised the entertainment industry that they would pass this law tried to delay the introduction, assuming that the opposition, while loud, was thin and would fade away. They were wrong. The issue continued to get attention, and when the law was finally introduced, the opposition, across the board, was widespread and strong. It wasn't just a fringe issue among "internet activists." It was something that people from all over the economy saw as a fundamental issue worth fighting for." [TechDirt]

China Says: If You Must Infringe On Copyrights, Use Baidu
"Many people have noted over the years that with all of the effort that China has put into its Great Firewall, the country hasn't done much of anything to crack down on unauthorized file sharing. In fact, at times, it's almost seemed to encourage it. So some people were a bit surprised to find out that China's censors tried blocking traffic to various well known BitTorrent sites, such as Mininova, isoHunt and The Pirate Bay. However, what may be most interesting is that rather than blocking them outright, it appears that the system just redirects all that traffic to popular Chinese search engine Baidu.

This would be the same Baidu that first became really popular when China shifted all Google traffic to its site, and also the site that stayed popular because it made it easy to download unauthorized music. This would be the same Baidu that was also recently exposed to be fairly complicit in the music downloads it offers, potentially hosting the content itself through a revolving series of ever-changing domains. So, this hardly seems like an attempt by the Chinese government to crack down on unauthorized file sharing -- but an attempt to drive it all to a local company. It looks like the redirects only lasted for a few days, and are no longer in place -- but if the past is any indication, those redirects may come back at any time." [TechDirt]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 17/11/08

France votes for 'three strikes' filesharing law 04/11/08
"The French senate has voted overwhelmingly in favour of Nicolas Sarkozy's anti-piracy legislation that offers illegal filesharers two warnings before cutting off their internet access

This week, as ever, it's one step forward and two steps back for the recording industry's anti-piracy legislation. Even as France seems poised to pass a new "three strikes" law against filesharers, lobbyists in Denmark have given up on the chance of passing similar legislation." [Guardian]

Dance Music Classics Get Aboard The Pirate Ship 12/11/08
"Recently, the techno-oriented site Resident Advisor ran a detailed, well-reported piece by UK writer Richard Brophy on the state of the bootleg 12-inch in dance music. To be clear, since "bootleg" has a few different musical connotations, Brophy isn't talking about mash-up pop Frankensteins or unauthorized recordings of live shows, but about pirated versions of actual releases—small-edition replicas of classic, long-out-of-print house and techno 12-inches. These are, he suggests, far more legion in the dance world than we might think, an open secret that few retailers try to do anything about even if they know what they're selling is technically illegal." [Idolator]

Prof Enters RIAA Lawsuit Controversy Nov 17, 2008
"A Harvard Law School professor representing a Boston University student accused of copyright infringement is attacking the constitutionality of lawsuits launched by the RIAA against individuals.

Professor Charles Nesson claims the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 is unconstitutional because it lets a private group, in this case the Recording Industry Association of America, carry out civil enforcement of a criminal law." [PollStar]

Pay-For Content Set To Grow Faster Than Free, With Music Leading The Way, Forecast Says 11 Nov 2008
"Maybe there are legs after all to that hypothesis on the return of pay-for content - the one Economist publisher Paul Rossi suggested at our Future Of Business Media conference last month. Just 12 percent of European web users paid for online content last year, but that’s due to rise to 19 percent by 2013, a new Jupiterresearch report says: “While free content will continue to dominate, as overall online audiences for all content categories continue to grow, so the number of European users willing to pay for content online will grow at an even greater rate.”" [PaidContent]

EU Public Affairs Monitor - 14/11/08

Feargal Sharkey: The problem of illegal file-sharing has become a global one but the way governments go about tackling it changes from country to country.
"In the UK, internet service providers (ISPs) have recently voluntarily agreed to engage and educate their customers about file-sharing.
Virgin Media is one of the most recent ISPs to write to customers whose net connection may have been used to download unlicensed content.
However, coming up with a logical and viable solution is proving difficult because of the fast pace of technological change." [BBC]

The BPI is preparing a membership briefing paper after label representatives aired concerns that the financial insecurity surrounding EUK is creating worry among the independent community during the all-important quarter four period.
"Despite EUK’s assurances that it has sufficient cash flow to maintain all its obligations throughout the final quarter, questions have remained over the limited bargaining power independent labels wield with EUK and the increased risk and financial exposure the situation has led to among smaller businesses.

BPI director of independent member services Julian Wall says that “there is a heightened level of concern at the moment amongst a spread of the independent BPI member labels”." [MusicWeek]

NAPSTER JUDGE CALLS FOR ALL-INTEREST COPYRIGHT BODY
"The judge who oversaw the original copyright infringement case against Napster, back in the days when Napster was a P2P network and enemy number one in the record industry, has said he thinks there should be a new copyright body in the US made up of representatives of all interested parties, including the public, to issue blanket licences, negotiate and set standard royalties and adopt rules and regulations to help enforce content owner's rights." [CMUDaily]

DUTCH LIVE MUSIC CONFERENCE TO PRECEDE MIDEM
"Another music industry event for your diaries, this one just before the customary January jolly for record label execs that is Midem. EuroSonic Noorderslag will take place in the Dutch city of Groningen and will have a live music focus, with the usual mix of keynotes and panel discussions plus showcases a plenty giving a platform for new bands and, in particular, artists from Belgium. It all takes place from 15-17 Jan." [CMUDaily]

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]

EU Events Monitor: 03/11/08

JURI Committee: JURI - Copyright and related rights - 04.11.08
"On 4 November 2008 from 11.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m., the Committee on Legal Affairs will have a hearing on "Term of protection of copyright and related rights".
At that occasion, Mr Brian Crowley, rapporteur, will present his draft report."

Copyright term gets Brussels hearing
The legal affairs committee of the European Parliament is opening its public hearing on copyright term next Tuesday.

SHARKEY TO ADDRESS ISP CONFERENCE
"UK Music boss Feargal Sharkey will speak at the annual conference of the Internet Service Providers' Association in London next month.

His booking is part of UK Music's attempts to negotiate a truce between the music industry and the internet providers after the former accused the latter of turning a blind eye to online piracy because it helped them flog more broadband subscriptions. As previously reported, negotiations between Sharkey and record label trade body the BPI and six ISPs have already led to a 'memorandum of understanding' between all parties which has seen the net firms send out warning letters to suspected file sharers, and will also see the launch of new licensed music services by the net providers." [CMUDaily]