Holland says No to IP criminal plan
p2p news / p2pnet: A European law that would effectively give entertainment and other industrial cartels the power to create their own internal cop units to go after copyright infringers is being opposed by the Dutch parliament.
The EU commission, “plans to obligate member states to prosecute any intentional violation of intellectual property if the violation was committed for commercial purposes,” says Heise Online.
But Holland says it doesn’t want to see intellectual property infringements turned into criminal matters.
Nor would copyright infringements be the only things affected. Patents, trademarks, utility models would also fall under the Semiconductor Protection Act, which would be enforceable, “by penal law”.
Police would have far-reaching authority, “to search houses and seize evidence” and in addition, “industries threatened by illegal copies and forgeries are to be allowed to create joint investigative teams along with criminal prosecutors,” says the story.
“If suspects are convicted, they would then face fines ranging from 100,000 (about $ 127,780) to 300,000 euros (about $ 383,340)” or up to four years in jail, according to Heise Online, suggesting the new proposal, “seems to be skating on thin ice”>
Both chambers of the Dutch parliament agreed the European Community doesn’t have a mandate, “to attain the goals of the planned legislative action,” says the story, going on that their statement, “came after the representatives briefly met to discuss the highly controversial proposal from Brussels”.
The only item on the agenda at the meeting, “was to see whether the principles of ’subsidiarity and proportionality’ required for the adoption of a directive were respected in a directive for ‘the prosecution of violations of intellectual property into the law’.”
(Thanks, Hans)
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Also See:
Heise Online – Dutch parliament opposes criminalization of violations of intellectual property across the EU, July 3, 2006
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