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On 14 February 2008, EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy announced his intention to propose to the European Commission (EC), in the next several months, an extension of the copyright term for performers from 50 to 95 years. This proposal should be ready for adoption by the Commission before the summer break of 2008.

As a justification to his action, Commissioner McCreevy stated: "I strongly believe that copyright protection for Europe's performers represents a moral right to control the use of their work and earn a living from their performances. I have not seen a convincing reason why a composer of music should benefit from a term of copyright which extends to the composer's life

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The European Commission has recently extended its formal probes launched on 14 January 2008 against Microsoft in two cases where it has been alleged that the multinational firm had abused its dominant market position.

The first case was brought by a complaint from web browser Opera, which complained that the tying of Microsoft's Internet Explorer to its Windows operating system was anti-competitive.

The second case under investigation was the complaint filed by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems for the Microsoft's refusal to disclose interoperability information on some Microsoft server products, Office and NET Framework. In relation to this case the Commission also intends to

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The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has decided on 29 January 2008 in the case of Productores de Música de España Promusicae vs. Telefónica de España considering that the European law "does not require member states to lay down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings". However, the decision allows the national courts to do that if the national interpretation requires so: "As to those directives, their provisions are relatively general, since they have to be applied to a large number of different situations which may arise in any of the Member States."

The decision came in the case where the Spanish music Association Promusicae asked the ISP Telefonica to hand over the names and addresses of the

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On 3 January 2008, the European Commission (EC) launched a public consultation for the preparation of a recommendation on Creative Content Online to be adopted by the European Parliament and Council that calls for a common legal environment for online content, proposing multi-territory licences.

In the opinion of the European Commission, EU policies should support the rapid implementation of "new services and related business models for the creation and circulation of European content and knowledge online."

As a result of the public consultation on "Content Online in the Single Market" launched by the EC in July 2006, there were several calls for the encouragement of the cooperation between industry, right holders and

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As a result of a complaint made by the Norwegian web browser developer Opera Software ASA, the European Commission will examine under the antitrust regulation Microsoft's abuse in distributing the browser Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system.

Opera Software states that Microsoft does not follow accepted web standards and therefore hinders programme developers in making programs that work with each other. In spite its many innovations in the field, the Norwegian company, although successful in making browsers for mobile phones, has failed to gain a share of the browser market on the Internet which is dominated by Microsoft's Internet Explorer. "Microsoft's unilateral control

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Pending the approval of its Committee of Ministers, the Council of Europe will try to promote a new broadcasting international document, building on the failed convention for the protection of broadcasting signals of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

As WIPO's 184 members have failed in agreeing upon a text for the treaty and as the conference for a full negotiation planned for November 2007 was postponed at the request of several member states and the European Broadcasting Union, the Council of Europe intends to proceed on reinforcing the initial WIPO recommendations on the matter. "I suspect that Council of Europe member states would be very happy if the WIPO deadlock were overcome

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During a conference on creative rights and cultural diversity organised by EUobserver on 6 December 2007, José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, stated the European Commission (EC) was not yet ready to take any short-term decision related to the management of the online music market.

Despite new calls at the conference to review the voluntary guidelines on the collective management of online music rights issued in 2005 by the EC and supported by collective rights managers (CRMs), Barroso said the EC needed some time to find the right solutions based on a balanced, sustainable consensus of all the involved stakeholders.

The guidelines are not legally binding for the EU states and, according to

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A new policy paper drafted by the European Commission (EC) shows its intention to promote new measures to fight against illegal file-sharing, taking as a positive example the French agreement between ISPs and the record industries already presented in EDRI-gram.

The policy paper obtained by EurActiv and entitled "Creative content online in the Single Market" wants to involve all the stakeholders in the activities against piracy: "It seems appropriate to instigate co-operation procedures between access and service providers, right holders and consumers".

The Commission communication also talks about the development of new legal offers of digital content available for consumers, educational programs to