EDRI - Digital Rights Management

European Parliament draft report on private copy levies – serious or satire?

joe — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 09:03:22 +0000

French Socialist MEP Françoise Castex published her draft report on private copying levies on 9 October. The biggest question that the document raises is... are you serious, Ms Castex?

The policy issue being addressed is that “creators” are meant to be “compensated” for private copies that are made of legally acquired content, such as music or printed material. In some EU countries, there are no levies, in some EU countries there are low levels of levies.

Closed environments locking down consumers’ rights

bogdan — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:10:12 +0000

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Geschlossene Systeme sabotieren Rechte der Verbraucher

Can you resell your used apps for your iOS or Android device? How about your video games that you purchased from Valve’s Steam Store?

The answer is yes and no. Legally, you are allowed to resell your used apps and Steam games if they were marketed in the EU.

Marielle Gallo MEP condemns the "soft-terrorism" of the anti-ACTA campaign

joe — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 07:04:11 +0000

This interview was translated and republished with the kind permission of PCinpact. We have added our comments on some of the misinformation in Ms Gallo's statements. See notes 1-6 at the end of the article.

Marielle Gallo, who is a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels, proposed a draft Opinion that was in favour of ACTA.

Open letter to Christofer Fjellner MEP

joe — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:59:50 +0000

Swedish text below

Dear Mr Fjellner,

I am writing to you with regard to your recent blog post on ACTA.

First of all thank you for providing a clarification after you tabled an amendment for the International Trade Committee vote next week calling for ACTA to be ratified. We are heartened to read that you believe that it would be irresponsible to take a definitive position on ACTA in the absence of assurances from the Commission. You further explain that clarifications are needed on “one or two” paragraphs.

Why taking copyright out of ACTA is not the solution

joe — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 08:38:09 +0000

Getting rid of the copyright’s aspect in ACTA as Mrs Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (German Federal minister of justice) suggested would fail to solve ACTA’s inherent problems.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of issues that will not be solved by political sleight of hand.

A fair balance between protecting intellectual property rights and preserving fundamental rights would still not be achieved. As confirmed by the European Economic and Social Committee, ACTA's approach is aimed at further strengthening the position of rights holders vis-à-vis the "public".

Free as in Free Culture

bogdan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:13:27 +0000

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Frei wie in freie Kultur

Free Culture Forum (FCF), organized by the Spanish NGO Exgae together with Networked Politics and the Free Knowledge Institute turned Barcelona in the capital of free culture for 3 days.

France: ARMT was useless

bogdan — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:52:33 +0000

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

At the end of December 2008 it was publicly presented the first yearly report of the French Authority for Regulations of the DRMs (Autorité de régulation des mesures techniques - ARMT) that should have ensured the interoperability of the DRM systems and allow the private copies.

This could be very well the last report, since the new law on Internet and Creation, could create a new authority (HADOPI - Haute Autorité pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur Internet) that will take the place of the old one and will have a different scope: to issue warnings and potentially cutting Internet subscriptions in cases of copyright infringement.

ARMT rep

EC public consultation of Creative Content Online

bogdan — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:34:40 +0000

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

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

ENDitorial : "No Swiss DMCA" Referendum campaign

bogdan — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:34:08 +0000

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Like everywhere else, DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) systems which impose technical restrictions on what end users can do with texts and multimedia content are highly unpopular also in Switzerland.

At the same time, the representatives of the entertainment industry claim that this technology is necessary, and politicians are inclined to believe their view that there should be a law against circumvention of DRM system. The main difference from most other countries is that Swiss citizens are able to force a national vote about the change of the law by collecting 50 000 signatures.

Of course the politicians know this and take it into account already when discussing legal proposals in the commissions of the Parliament. As

UK Retailers blow the whistle on DRM

bogdan — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:31:16 +0000

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) asks the music industry to get rid of DRM which they consider responsible for the continuously decreasing of online music sales in UK.

The industry music seems to ignore the consumers' preferences who are displeased with the copy protection systems imposing limitations on the content use. Additionally, the occurrence of various incompatible DRM formats has led to confusion and reserve with the consumers who tend to prefer file-sharing, lest they should find themselves in the position of not being able to play the music on their electronic equipment.

According to Kim Bayley, ERA director, the DRM is "working against the consumer interest" and "puts consumers off". In a statement to Financial