Looking for help with the Online Safety Act  - Ofcom consultation & guidelines? Please get in touch. 

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.

It emerged last week that the European Comission is changing the timings for the IPR Enforcement directive (IPRED) review. At a conference organised by DG Markt, the Commission said that the consultation on the directive will be extended. The move is significant, because DG Markt was scheduled to unveil the revised directive in September, with the intention of getting it adopted next year. That timetable appears to have been torn up.

Read more: EU Commission re-sets clock for IP enforcement review

This is not the message that the European Commission would like to give, but it is what comes across. Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier, speaking in Copenhagen last Thursday, gave his priorities for the European internal market for 2012. He called it the "Single Market 2.0". In summary, he wants reliable online payment systems that can equally be trusted to black payments on request, in respect of mis-behaving music and film download sites.

Read more: Single market 2.0 = blocked payments

The European Commission could ask ISPs to block content, and ask payment providers to withold money on demand from rights-holders, following a policy announcment released today. The much-awaited announcement sets out EU official policy on the Internet and e-commerce. It follows a review of the E-commerce directive by the Commission.

Read more: EU gives notice of 'Net blocking schemes

Find me on LinkedIn

About Iptegrity

Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten. I am an  independent policy advisor, with expertise in online safety, technology and human rights. I am a published author, and post-doctoral scholar. I hold a PhD from the University of Westminster, and a DipM from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. I cover the UK and EU. I'm a former tech journalist, and an experienced panelist and Chair. My media credits include the BBC, iNews, Times, Guardian and Politico.

Iptegrity.com is made available free of charge for non-commercial use. Please link back and attribute Dr Monica Horten.  Contact me to use any of my content for commercial purposes.