Tech Policy Summit blog

British ISPs Agree To Landmark Copyright Enforcement Deal

Following negotiations brokered by the United Kingdom's Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), six major Internet service providers in the UK have signed a memorandum of understanding with British music industry group BPI and the Motion Picture Association to curb illegal peer-to-peer file sharing significantly within two to three years. 

The agreement is particularly significant because it marks the first time that ISPs will be "required to work with music and other rights holders" to fight digital piracy. The ISPs, which include BSkyB, BT, Virgin, Carphone Warehouse, Orange and Tiscali, will launch a pilot program that begins by sending warning letters to individuals that have been identified as suspected copyright infringers.

British telecom regulator Ofcom has been charged with overseeing the process and working with the parties to develop and approve a Code of Practice within four months that determines what actions should be taken against alleged "repeat offenders," i.e. suspension or cancellation of users' Internet accounts or criminal prosecution.

Meanwhile, while the British government says it prefers voluntary industry-led efforts, BERR is continuing to explore what it calls a co-regulatory approach that could lead to legislation. Among the regulatory options being considered by the government are:

• Requiring ISPs to provide personal data relating to a given IP address to rights holders on request, without them needing to go to Court.
• Requiring ISPs to take direct action against users who are identified by the rights holder as infringing copyright through file sharing.
• Requiring that ISPs allow the installation of filtering equipment that will block infringing content, or requiring ISPs themselves to install such filtering equipment.
• Allocating a third party body to consider evidence provided by rights holders and to direct ISPs to take action against individual users as required, or to take action directly against individual users.

BERR is seeking comment on the proposed options between now and October 30th; more information can be found in the consultation document released by the government. The 66-page PDF is available for download here.

p.s. We've previously written these posts about ISPs in the U.S. cooperating with the entertainment industry to police for copyright violations.

EU Extends Copyright Terms; Introduces New IP Report

The European Commission adopted two important copyright measures yesterday.

The first is a controversial proposal to extend the copyright protections on musical recordings from 50 years to 95 years to bring it in line with the term already offered to authors (whose works are protected for their lifetime, plus 70 years).

The initiative has been lauded by the EU's Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy as a way to offer aging musicians additional income as they reach retirement. However, critics of the measure dismiss that argument as an excuse to keep copyright in the hands of recording companies. 

As a compromise, the Commission approved a so-called "use it or lose it" provision that would return copyright to the performer, if after 50 years, the record producer failed to market the song again. If neither the producer nor the performer took action within that time period, it would return to the public domain. 

Separately, the Commission also adopted a Green Paper on "Copyright in the Knowledge Economy" that is intended to open up debate on long-term copyright policy in areas like scientific and scholarly publishing by exploring what types of exceptions might be necessary to accommodate libraries, researchers, individuals with disabilities and others. The Commission is seeking comments on the issues discussed in the 22-page report through November 30th. To learn more, you can download the report here (the email address to submit comments is provided on the final page).

EU Parliament's Telecom Reform Raises "Three-Strikes" Concerns

According to BBC News, members of the European Parliament voted yesterday in favor of advancing new telecom reform legislation known as the Telecoms Package that includes a series of controverisal amendments that digital rights activists say would pave the way for a 'three-strikes' law against online copyright infringers in Europe.

MEP Malcolm Harbour, a key backer of the Telecoms Package, dismissed that idea, telling BBC that the amendments "have nothing to do with copyright enforcement. The interpretation of them is alarmist and scare-mongering and deflects from the intention which was to improve consumers' rights."

Opponents, led by a French group called La Quadrature du Net, warn that the legislation designed to harmonize Europe's telecom laws would instead threaten the openness of the Internet by requiring ISPs to give individuals suspected of downloading unauthorized copyright material two warnings before cutting off their Net access entirely. Another organization, Free Internet Infrastructure (FFII), went a step further, saying that a provision that would give the government the power to determine what type of software can be used online (and what can't) would lead to a "Soviet Internet" in Europe.

The European Parliament will vote on the legislation in September.

For more, read the full BBC article here.

eBay: Counterfeit Case Is Anti-Competitive

Courts in the Europe and the U.S. have been trying to decide who is responsible when counterfeit goods are sold on online auction sites. The question they've been asking is should site owners like eBay be liable for trademark infringement, or is it up to manufacturers to police such sites for knock-off versions of their merchandise?

Most recently, a French court ordered eBay to pay approximately $61 million to LVMH, the parent company of luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Givenchy. The damages are intended to compensate LVMH for the sale of counterfeit goods that it says eBay should have prevented.

But, according to some (including eBay itself), the real debate isn't over protecting intellectual property -- it's about online business models.

Here's an excerpt from the statement eBay issued in response to last week's ruling in the LVMH case: 

If counterfeits appear on our sites we take them down swiftly, but today's ruling is not about our fight against counterfeit; today's ruling is about an attempt by LVMH to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law-abiding sellers that eBay empowers everyday.

We believe that this ruling represents a loss not only for us but for consumers and small businesses selling online, therefore we will appeal. It is clear that eBay has become a focal point for certain brand owners' desire to exact ever greater control over e-commerce. We view these decisions as a step backwards for the consumers and businesses whom we empower everyday.

We believe that the overreach manifests itself through an attempt to impose, in France, a business model that restricts consumer choice through an anti-competitive business practice.

The ruling also seeks to impact the sale of second-hand goods as well as new genuine products, effectively reaching into homes and rolling back the clock on the Internet and liberty it has created. The attempt to use the ruling to confuse the separate issues of counterfeit and restrictive sales suggests that counterfeit suits are being used by certain brand owners as a stalking-horse issue to reinforce their control over the market.

While those words may be directed at the French court, eBay no doubt hopes they'll be heard by the judge in another case as well...eBay is awaiting the ruling in its legal battle with luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. That lawsuit, which dates back to 2004, is still pending and could set a precedent here in the U.S.

For more on the LVMH suit, check out this report from Reuters.

Global IT Rankings Out: Denmark Keeps Top Spot

The World Economic Forum (WEF) and INSEAD have released the results of the 2007-2008 Global Information Technology Report, its seventh annual Networked Readiness Index (NRI).

This year's report compared the IT capabilities of 127 economies around the world across 68 different variables, with Denmark and Sweden retaining the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for a second consecutive year. The United States, for its part, moved up a few notches to rank fourth overall, and Korea broke into the top ten.

Here's a quick look at this year's top 10; you can compare that to last year's list.

2007-2008 NRI

1. Denmark                                          
2. Sweden                                          
3. Switzerland 
4. United States
5. Singapore
6. Finland
7. Netherlands
8. Iceland
9. Korea
10. Norway

For more info, check out the video interview with WEF senior economist Irene Mia in the Media Vault. You can also read excerpts from the report on INSEAD's site, and Ars Technica's Nate Anderson has this analysis (others are far more skeptical).

As you may remember, we had planned to unveil the report at Tech Policy Summit on March 26th, but the WEF delayed the release date.

Viviane Reding's Video from Tech Policy Summit

We opened the second day of Tech Policy Summit '08 with a special videotaped message by Viviane Reding, the European Union's Commissioner for Information Society and Media. In her remarks for Summit participants, Commissioner Reding discussed how the EU is dealing with the challenges of convergence in areas like telecom reform and content distribution.

In case you missed this year's Summit, the full video is available now in Who's Who.

U.K. Court, Patent Office at Odds Over Software Patent

A recent court ruling in Britain may end up changing the way software patents are granted in the country.

While the United States allows patents on software and business methods, a practice that some would like to see abolished, Europe has stricter guidelines that are intended to ensure that patents are only issued on computer code in rare cases.

According to Computerworld, the British Court of Appeals has ordered the U.K. Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to approve a software patent application by London-based Symbian. The IPO had previously rejected the application and is appealing the court's ruling in hopes of clarifying how the guidelines governing software patents should be interpreted.

The topic of patent modernization here in the United States will be addressed at next week's Tech Policy Summit where Jon Dudas, Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, will be a keynote speaker.

EU Endorses DVB-H as Mobile TV Standard

As expected, the European Commission took the next step in promoting a single standard for mobile television in Europe when it added Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld (DVB-H) to the EU List of Standards yesterday. In picking DVB-H as the mobile TV standard of choice, over competing standards Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) or MediaFLO, European Commissioner Viviane Reding hopes to spur adoption of the technology and create a single market for mobile TV in the EU.

In a statement yesterday, Information Society and Media commissioner Reding said:

"For Mobile TV to take off in Europe, there must first be certainty about the technology. This is why I am glad that with today's decision, taken by the Commission in close coordination with the Member States and the European Parliament, the EU endorse DVB-H as the preferred technology for terrestrial mobile broadcasting."

Music Labels Take Irish ISP to Court

In honor of St. Patrick's Day...

According to an article from The Irish Times, the four major music studios -- EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music -- are getting ready to face off in court against Irish telco Eircom in a case that could set a new precedent for Internet service providers (ISPs).

The Irish Recorded Music Association, Ireland's version of RIAA, is suing Eircom for refusing to use digital fingerprinting technology from Audible Magic to prevent its users from illegally downloading copyrighted material. The case, which is scheduled to begin next month, will be the first time ISPs' role in policing their networks for copyright violations has been brought before the court in Ireland.

According to a university lecturer and digital rights activist quoted in The Irish Times, "this is brand new territory and many Irish technology companies will be watching the case...if the record companies win, this could be extended to other entities. For example, Google might have to police the actions of its users." You can read the entire article at ContentAgenda.com.

The issue of copyright enforcement will also be the subject of a roundtable hosted by BusinessWeek columnist Steve Wildstrom at Tech Policy Summit next week that features Audible Magic CEO Vance Ikezoye, YouTube's chief counsel Zahavah Levine, UCLA's CIO Jim Davis and MPAA's CTO Jim Williams. Check out the rest of the agenda here.

Net Safety In The News

The fight to make the Internet a safer place for kids and teens made headlines this week.

First, the European Union announced on Wednesday that it plans to spend over $83 million on Internet safety programs between 2009 and 2013, extending a program it began several years ago. The money will be spent on a variety of research and educational projects designed to keep kids in the EU safe from cyber bullying and illegal content.

Stateside, the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society launched its Internet Safety Technical Task Force, which includes experts from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, Center for Democracy & Technology, Progress & Freedom Foundation and other organizations.

Together, they will evaulate technology-based solutions to the online safety challenge, including age-verification and authentication tools. For more info, check out this post by PFF's Adam Thierer. CDT's Leslie Harris also wrote an ABC News editorial about the privacy implications of online age verification. Both will be among the speakers at next month's Tech Policy Summit.