Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 20:14:34 -0700
From: Robin Gross <robin ipjustice.org>
Subject: International Civil Liberties Coalition Urges Rejection of IP
Enforcement Directive
IP Justice Media Release
August 11, 2003
International Civil Liberties Coalition Urges Rejection of IP
Enforcement Directive
Campaign for an Open Digital Environment (CODE) Sends Letter to EU
to Protect Consumer Rights and Competition
An international coalition of 38 civil liberties groups and consumer
rights campaigns sent a letter to the European Union today urging
rejection of the proposed Intellectual property Enforcement
Directive. The coalition warns that the proposed Directive is
overbroad and threatens civil liberties, innovation, and competition
policy. The proposal requires EU Member States to criminalize all
violations of any intellectual property right that can be tied to
any commercial purpose, with penalties to include imprisonment.
"If this proposal becomes a reality, major companies from abroad can
use 'intellectual property' regulations to gain control over the
lives of ordinary European citizens and threaten digital freedoms",
said Andy Müller-Maguhn, a board member of European Digital Rights
and speaker for the Chaos Computer Club. "Under this proposal, a
person's individual liberty to use his own property is replaced with
a limited license that can be revoked or its terms changed at any
time and for any reason," added the German civil rights activist.
"Currently EU-Member states are implementing the EU Copyright
Directive and the EU Software Patent Directive is next in the line.
We should really wait and see what effect these new laws have before
adding any new legislation, " said Ville Oksanen, a lawyer and Vice
Chairman of Electronic Frontier Finland (EFFi), a signatory on the
organizational letter. "Contrary to what the Enforcement Directive
claims, Member States are already obliged by international treaties
like TRIPS to protect intellectual property rights," Oksanen
continued.
In conjunction with the publication of the letter, the international
group of activists launched the Campaign for an Open Digital
Environment (CODE) to raise awareness about the IP Enforcement
proposal?s threat to consumer rights and market competition. CODE
encourages European citizens to contact the EUROPARL Committee on
Legal Affairs and Internal Market and urge the proposal?s rejection
before the September 11, 2003 hearing on its merits in Brussels.
"Major IP holders are highly organized to impose maximalist
provisions in transnational agreements," said Robin D. Gross,
Executive Director of IP Justice, an international civil liberties
organization. "The CODE campaign unites people from many different
countries to defend civil rights against the encroachment of
overzealous intellectual property protection."
In its letter to EU members, the coalition expressed particular
concern over Article 9 of the proposal, which gives intellectual
property holders broad new subpoena powers to obtain personal
information about any European citizen that is alleged to be
connected to an infringement. Similar subpoena powers created by
the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act are abused by the Recording
Industry Association of America to obtain personal information about
thousands of users of file-sharing software. The proposed IP
Enforcement Directive would extend the ability to abuse this power
to Europe.
The international coalition also urged rejection of Article 21 of
the proposal, which requires Member States to forbid technology
including software that is capable of bypassing technical
restrictions imposed by intellectual property holders. This
provision threatens market competition by permitting foreign IP
owners to restrict parallel imports and impose price discrimination
within the EU. Article 21 would also forbid Europeans from
deactivating or removing technical devices such as Radio Frequency
ID (RFID) tags that are embedded into clothing and other consumer
goods to prevent counterfeiting but can also be used to track people.
"Forbiding tools that are required for the exercise of legally
protected rights, like private use, preservation of works by
libraries, and reverse engineering, means giving a complete monopoly
to right-holders on the basic infrastructure needed to communicate
in the digital world," said João Miguel Neves, Vice-President of
Portuguese National Association for Free Software (ANSOL).
"One can think of the EU IP Enforcement Directive as the `DMCA on
steroids? since any industrial property right that can be licensed
will be enforced through technical devices that it will be
absolutely illegal to circumvent throughout Europe," added Gross, an
intellectual property attorney.
Media Contacts:
Robin Gross, Executive Director, IP Justice
robin ipjustice.org
+1 415.553.6261
Andy Müller-Maguhn, Board Member, European Digital Rights (EDRi)
andy edri.org
+ 49 (0) 30-3087 1710
João Miguel Neves, President, Portuguese National Association for
Free Software (ANSOL)
joao.neves ansol.org
+351 933 252 302
Ville Oksanen, Vice-Chairman, Electronic Frontier Finland
ville.oksanen effi.org
+358 40 5368583
Frederic Couchet, Association Pour la Recherche en Informatique Libre (APRIL)
fcouchet april.org
Alexandre Dulaunoy, President, NGO/ASBL Association Electronique Libre (AEL)
alexandre.dulaunoy ael.be
+352091303303
Martin Keegan, Deputy Leader, UK Campaign for Digital Rights
mk ukcdr.org
+44 7779 296469
Links for More Information:
CODE Organizational Letter Urging Rejection of EU IP Enforcement Directive:
http://www.ipjustice.org/codeletter.shtml
Campaign for an Open Digital Environment (CODE) Website:
http://www.ipjustice.org/code.shtml
IP Justice White Paper on EU IP Enforcement Directive:
http://www.ipjustice.org/ipenforcewhitepaper.shtml
Foundation for Information Policy Research Analysis on Directive:
http://www.fipr.org/copyright/draft-ipr-enforce.html
Association Electronique Libre Webpage on IP Enforcement Directive:
http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/IPRProposalDirectiveInfoPage
Electronic Frontier Finland Statement on Enforcement Proposal:
http://www.effi.org/julkaisut/lausunnot/ipr_enforcement_lausunto.en.html
Text of Proposed European Union IP Enforcement Directive:
http://www.europa.eu.int/cgi-bin/eur-lex/udl.pl?REQUEST=Service-Searc
h&LANGUAGE=en&GUILANGUAGE=en&SERVICE=all&COLLECTION=com&DOCID=503PC004
6
Portuguese Translation of CODE Letter from ANSOL::
http://www.ipjustice.org/code/portcodeletter.html
French Translation of CODE Letter from AEL:
http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/IPRProposalDirectiveLetterIPJusticeFr
IP Justice is an international civil liberties organization that
promotes balanced intellectual property law. IP Justice defends
individual rights to use digital media worldwide and is a registered
California non-profit organization. IP Justice was founded in 2002
by Robin D. Gross, who serves as its Executive Director. To learn
more about IP Justice, visit the website at http://www.ipjustice.org
IP JUSTICE
Robin D. Gross, Esq.
Executive Director www.ipjustice.org
robin ipjustice.org +1 415.553.6261