Big tech accountability? Read how we got here in  The Closing of the Net 

IPR Enforcement

IPR enforcement on the Internet is highly contrversial as measures may entail some form of content blocking and  impose new liabilities on  ISPs and content platforms.  Blocking measures immediately engage the right to freedom of expression.

This section  monitors  aspects of EU policy which relate to IPR and copyright enforcement from 2009. It covers a variety of industry-led proposals, including early moves against Internet providers. Iptegrity provided almost exclusive coverage of the European Commission's proposed Notice and Action Directive. It was  subsequently shelved - but will it re-appear? The section also logs industry moves which may influence the policy agenda and seeks to understand ways in which European  IPR enforcement policy could change or evolve.

If you like the articles in this section and you are interested in copyright enforcement policy in the EU, you may like my books A Copyright Masquerade: How Corporate Lobbying Threatens Online Freedoms and The Copyright Enforcement Enigma - Internet Politics and the ‘Telecoms Package’

You might also like my latest  book 'The Closing of the Net' which examins corporate power and Internet policy, including 3 chapters on copyright.

Were eBay and Amazon  - the two e-commerce platforms who signed -  bulldozed into this?

 

The European Commission has quietly brokered an industry agreement on ‘notice and takedown' which will apply to major e-commerce hosting sites. The current signatories are a long list of rights-holders - eg Adidas, LVMH, MPA, Lego Group, Nike, Proctor and Gamble, Richemont, Microsoft, Unilever -  plus the two major e-commerce platforms, eBay and Amazon.

 

The agreement, signed on 4 May,  comes as a surprise to those outside the Commission, as the talks appear to have been held in secret. It  is a ‘Memorandum of Understanding' (MoU) which means that it is not legally binding,  but may be used by rights-holders to pressure Internet companies.

The MoU  is intended ‘to enhance collaboration' between rights-holders and Internet e-commerce hosting companies. Specifically, it

Read more: European Commission brokers eBay counterfeit takedown agreement

The European Commission has terminated  secret talks  aimed at  brokering  a Europe-wide agreement on Hadopi-style measures, just one day after Commissioner Barnier defended  the talks in a written answer to  the European Parliament. But why does the  Commission still pull a veil over the MoU?

 

The European Commission has formally replied to MEPs Stavros Lambrinidis and Francoise Castex on the matter of the secret copyright enforcement talks  being hosted by DG Markt ( the talks were  previously uncovered in iptegrity.com).  The reply was sent by Internal Market Commission Michel Barnier, and it denies the previously leaked information, saying that  the talks are open and promote an exchange of views to find solutions to the online copyright enforcement problem within the existing legal framework.

Read more: Commission slams the lid on EU Hadopi talks

IFPI, the international music industry lobbying group,  has  put a new spin on  authorised  credit card transactions.

 

In a new  tactic against file-sharing and other sites, IFPI will ask the police to authorise the closure of  credit card payment facilities. The intention is to stem the flow of funds to the websites, which will ultimately be forced to close.  Mastercard and  Visa  are the two credit card  companies currently working with IFPI. The police force involved is the Economic Crime directorate of the  City of London police.

 

The way it works is that IFPI's investigators will inform the City of London police about websites which they accuse of infringing copyright. The police will have to ‘verify' the evidence - and it is unclear exactly what ‘verify' means in this instance.

 

The City of London police will

Read more: IFPI gets police authorisation for Visa card shut-downs

Iptegrity in brief

 

Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten. I’ve been analysing analysing digital policy since 2008. Way back then, I identified how issues around rights can influence Internet policy, and that has been a thread throughout all of my research. I hold a PhD in EU Communications Policy from the University of Westminster (2010), and a Post-graduate diploma in marketing.   I’ve served as an independent expert on the Council of Europe  Committee on Internet Freedoms, and was involved in a capacity building project in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. I am currently (from June 2022)  Policy Manager - Freedom of Expression, with the Open Rights Group. For more, see About Iptegrity

Iptegrity.com is made available free of charge for  non-commercial use, Please link-back & attribute Monica Horten. Thank you for respecting this.

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Copyright Enforcement Enigma launch, March 2012

In 2012, I presented my PhD research in the European Parliament.

 

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