Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Sarkozy government will implement a law aimed at promoting legal online downloading in the coming months despite being prevented from cutting off the internet access of alleged three-time offenders, according to official sources.
Meanwhile, the government has already begun preparing a new law that would restore penalties decided by a judge rather than by the newly created HADOPI commission.
The French Constitutional Council on Wednesday decided that two articles of a newly passed law creating a graduated punishment mechanism for alleged copyright infringement on the internet did not comply with the French Constitution. The government has options to proceed with changes reflecting the setback to the so-called HADOPI law.
WASHINGTON, DC - France's "three strikes" law is both "ambitious" and "realistic," French culture and communication minister Christine Albanel told a conference Tuesday, and anyone who thinks the internet can be a lawless arena where anything goes is "in the wrong century." Also at the conference, predictions were made on US legislation on patent reform, performance rights and other issues.
After intensive negotiations, the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee reached agreement Friday night on a plan to address a proposed treaty on copyright exceptions for visually impaired persons and others. There also appeared to be a renewed focus on a decade-old treaty proposal on audiovisual performances, according to participants.
A treaty on copyright exceptions for visually impaired persons proposed this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization met with no immediate objections, according to participants, but how to treat the proposal and other limitations and exceptions in the future has led to a sharpening divergence among governments.
Digital content owners continue to emphasise enforcement and protection of intellectual property. However, the impact that litigation and legislation have had with the purpose of limiting illegal file sharing remains questionable, thus setting the stage for new economic models and approaches that could serve as a remedy.
Results of recent research on the impact of digital rights management (DRM) on the ability of users to take advantage of certain exceptions to copyright have introduced new systemic empirical data into the debate.
Patent reform may be chugging along in the United States Congress, but so far, with the Senate soon to be consumed with what could be a contentious Supreme Court nomination fight, and with President Obama still lacking a new director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, some are questioning whether reform will actually happen this year. In addition, a key "first-to-file" provision in the US bill to harmonise with other countries may be more appearance than substance.
In the continued absence of a new model that adequately includes them, major global media groups remain concerned over revenues lost to unauthorised file-sharing decades after the arrival of the internet, and their focus is still on enforcement and extension of their rights.
The French Senate’s vote on Wednesday sealed the adoption by the Parliament of the controversial French HADOPI law creating a graduated punishment mechanism for alleged copyright infringement on the internet.