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[Article] Proposed European Intellectual Property Legislation

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  • 21-10-2003 3:50pm
    #1
    henbane
    Registered Users Posts: 1,636 ✭✭✭


    Article at the new york times talking about some very broad intellectual property law being discussed in the EU at the moment.

    It's Fritz Bolkestein who wasn't too happy with the effective lobbying of OSS groups against software patents. Also involved is Janelly Fourtou who is married to the head of Vivendi music. Can you smell conflict of interest?

    Looks like this law could possibly be worse than the U.S. laws which allowed the RIAA to sue a 12 year old. Does anyone really think it's a good thing to send people to prison for using Kazaa? Given the people backing this it reeks of an attempt to get the legislation needed to start a round of lawsuits similar to the current one in the U.S.

    Article goes on to say that ISPs will be required to help the record companies track down the file sharers. Something they are having problems with in the U.S. though some have stopped fighting in the courts and the names have been handed over. Seems to be totally at odds with Data Protection laws already in place with Europe.
    Opposition to the new law was slow to develop but is gaining momentum. Companies like Nokia, the BT Group, and even Microsoft, itself a major victim of software piracy, have called the proposed law excessive and have warned that it could crush technical innovation.

    WTF, Microsoft and BT don't like it? Two companies with whole portfolios full of dumbass patents think this is going overboard.

    Why is it that the people writing about this are the New York Times? Does european journalists not care? I can't find any reference to this stuff on the EU website (but I can't find anything else on it either. Anyone familiar with it who might be able to dig up the wording of this draft?)


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