10 years ago, on 23 June 1994, the TRIPS agreement was concluded as a part of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO. A good reason for the European Commission to have a party. After all, the Brussels executive body has not only taken the helm within the EU in transposing the agreement, but also goes much further than the agreement requires by pushing for example for civil and penal sanctions for intellectual property rights infringements, legal protection for DRM systems and the patentability of software.

Even though constantly under attack for taking such disputable initiatives, the Commission likes to see itself sidelined by international experts in the field of Intellectual Property rights. However, neither the Commission's 'Mr. Copyright' - Joerg Reinbothe, who is responsible for the proposals most widely acclaimed by IPR industries and most widely criticised by experts -, nor any of his colleagues of the Internal Market DG came to the two-day Conference organised in Brussels last week. Thierry Stoll, the DG Internal Market's Deputy Director General, was replaced last minute by a colleague from DG Trade, co-organising the conference.

During the Wizards of OS conference in Berlin, from 10 to 12 June 2004, legal scientists and civil rights defenders jointly launched a declaration on collectively managed online rights. The declaration is a response to the call for comments on the Communication from the European Commission on the management of copyright and related rights in the internal market - COM(2004) 261. See also EDRI-gram 2.8, 21 April 2004. The declaration states that DRM and mass-prosecution of file-sharers are not acceptable to an open and equitable society and calls on the Commission to consider a music flatrate to ensure compensation without control.

"File-sharing teaches us a lesson that markets and lawmakers should listen to. It says that shipping bits from A to B has become such a low value service that Internet users effortlessly can provide it themselves. This is a result of the communications revolution that the EU has been supporting actively for the last decade. These developments could be good news to the content industries, but not if they are continue to base their business models on a proposition of exclusive service provisions that they no longer hold."

The rapporteur of the EU Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, Janelly Fourtou (UDF, Conservative, France), has earned millions from business related to Intellectual Property Rights, even while she was shepherding the report through the European Parliament. As several newspapers have investigated, Mrs. Fourtou runs a private fund together with her husband, Jean-René Fourtou, who is the CEO of Vivendi Universal, the media giant that is worldwide the biggest holder of intellectual property rights. In November 2002, this fund acquired transferable bonds worth 14,5 million Euro, which shall be transferred into Vivendi Universal shares at preference conditions in 2005. The Fourtou children have, according to the Financial Times, acquired bonds for an additional 5 million Euro. The Fourtou couple has until now made a computational surplus of 10 million Euro; their children 3,4 million Euro.

On 27 May 2004 the Belgian court of Brussels rejected the complaint made by the consumer organisation Test-Achats (Test Aankoop) against four record companies in Belgium (EMI, Sony, Universal and BMG) about their use of technical copy protection measures. Test-Achats collected 200 complaints from individual members and demanded that the companies would stop using technical measures on their CDs and remove all copy-controlled CDs on the market. The judge ruled that copyright legislation does allow for a private copy, but does not grant a 'right'. According to an article in the national newspaper 'De Morgen', Test-Achats immediately announced an appeal.

Spokesperson Ivo Mechels said to De Morgen that the judge did not provide sufficient argumentation in his verdict. He complained the verdict only comprised half an A4 paper. "The judge seems to have based his ruling on the content table of the copyright law. Making a private copy is classified under the exceptions, so according to his particular logic, it is an exception. There was no debate about the meaning and purpose of the legislation. When we presented the European Copyright Directive from 2001, which allows for private copies but has not yet been implemented in Belgium, the judge suggested that would be a matter for parliament to decide. But the text of this directive clearly states that voluntary initiatives can be undertaken if the implementation is delayed. And delayed it is indeed in Belgium (...)."

On 18 May 2004, the Italian Senate turned a highly controversial new decree into law that puts heavy fines and even prison sentences on the download of movies, music or other copyrighted works even when done without any commercial purpose. Though the law speaks of penalties when 'making a profit', jurisprudence in Italy has already shown that this wording does not protect purely personal use.

Downloaders and file-sharers also risk the seizure of their equipment and a humiliating publication of the verdict in the national press. See EDRI-gram 2.8. The obligation on internet access providers to spy on their customers and proactively report to the police, was deleted by a parliamentary amendment. Hosting providers have to respond to a judicial request to hand-over customer data and take down or block access to infringing materials. The law will enter into force in a few days, one day after publication in the Official Journal.

Adoption of the Directive on Measures and Procedures to Enforce Intellectual Property Rights - the infamous Fourtou Report - is a mere formality. The General Secretariat of the European Council has invited the Council's Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) to suggest to the Council, at one of its forthcoming meetings, to adopt the Directive as an 'A'-item.

The Council is fully satisfied with the final version, as amended by Parliament on 9 March 2004. The vote was the result of a deal between the Rapporteur - French Conservative Janelly Fourtou - with the Council in order to allow for the Directive to be adopted in First Reading.

After adoption by the Council, the next step will be publication of the Directive in the EU's Official Journal. Member States then have to transpose it within 24 months.

Today, 21 April, the controversial Urbani decree will be discussed again by the Culture Commission of the Italian Parliament. This law (named after the Minister of Culture) puts heavy fines on the download of movies, music or other copyrighted works even when done without any commercial purpose. Downloaders and file-sharers also risk the seizure of their equipment and a humiliating publication of the verdict in the national press. Fines start at 154 euro for private use of a work that has been distributed illegally, and run up to 1.032 euro in case of a repeated offence.

The decree attempts to authorise surveillance of electronic communication, introducing an assumption of 'guilty by default' of all internet users. The debate in the Parliamentary Commissions only seems to cause temporary delay, since it has the support of most of the Italian government.

European Digital Rights condemns action taken by the international phonographic industry association (IFPI) against European users of file-sharing networks. On 30 March IFPI announced legal actions against a total of 247 file-sharers in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Canada. Similar actions were announced by the French and Swiss music industry shortly after. Following previous actions in the United States, European internet users will be charged with illegally making available hundreds of music tracks for copying, transmission and distribution via file-sharing services.

In Italy 30 file-sharers are accused, mostly users of 'Opennap'. At the request of FIMI, the Italian music industry federation, financial police has raided the houses of these file-sharers and seized their computers, hard disks and CD's to secure evidence. The German section of IFPI has announced lawsuits against 68 users. In response, the German Chaos Computer Club (by far the largest usergroup in Europe), announced a campaign to boycott the music industry.