EDRi's guide on how to answer the IPRED consultation
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Deutsch: [EDRi Leitfaden zur Konsultation zum Urheberrecht | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.4_EDRi_Leitfaden_zur_Konsultation_zum_Urheberrecht?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130304]
This is just a quick warning that you have until 30 March 2013 if you
want to answer to the public consultation on the Intellectual Property
Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED). The directive has been in force
since 2004 and requires all Member States to apply remedies and
penalties against those engaged in “commercial” infractions of
intellectual property law. This is the Directive which is partly
responsible for the heavy-handed injunctions that are being imposed by
some courts.
The European Commission has recently launched this consultation in order
to evaluate the efficiency of the current framework and the necessity of
a revision. However, some parts of the questionnaire dangerously lead
the reader to believe that Internet companies should be in charge of
dealing with alleged infringements. This would seriously undermine
freedom of expression online, the right to a fair trial and to privacy.
It is therefore absolutely crucial that the European Commission receives
diverse input from citizens and organisations. This is a perfect
occasion to tell the Commission that a comprehensive copyright reform is
needed – instead of measures in the spirit of ACTA. However, since the
Commission did not make it easy to respond, EDRi put together an
answering guide to help you through the questionnaire. Here are the
different steps you need to take to answer the consultation:
1. In order to get access to the consultation you need to register, by
providing your name and email address at
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=IPRREGFORM
2. You will receive an email with the subject “IPM Invitation” by the
Commission providing you with a unique access link so you can respond to
the consultation. Please note that it can take some time before the
registration is processed. There are also reports of slowness and
time-outs at weekends and of Gmail filtering registration details as
“spam”. Therefore, please be patient with the Commission’s technology!
3. If you follow the invitation by clicking on the unique access link,
you will be able to answer the questionnaire.
4. Our answering guide is here
https://edri.org/files/ipr-guide.pdf
Background information on the current consultation
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2012/intellectual-property-rights_en.htm
For more background information on IPRED and the copyright reform in
Europe you can check EDRi booklet “Copyright: Challenges of the digital era”
http://www.edri.org/files/paper07_copyright.pdf
(Contribution by Kirsten Fiedler – EDRi)