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Launch of Irish Free Software Organisation
On 5 January 2004 the Irish Free Software Organisation (IFSO) was launched. Since June 2003, members of a European free software mailing list have been collaborating on issues such as software patents, and the European Copyright Directive. One of the founders, Ciaran O’Riordan, comments: “With Ireland holding the presidency of the EU for the next […]
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Modified Sony PlayStations allowed in Italy
In an important victory for Italian consumer rights, an Italian court has rejected the seizure of Sony PlayStation game consoles that use modified chips to permit unauthorised uses of the game systems. The case is one of the first to be brought in Italy under the new European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD). In December 2003, […]
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Draft position EU Council on IPR Enforcement
The Irish Presidency of Council of the European Union has published a Draft Common position on the planned Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. On 13 January the Document was discussed in Strasbourg with interested Members of the European Parliament and with the Commission officials who had drafted the initial proposal for the […]
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Belgian consumer group sues music industry
The Belgian consumer group Test Aankoop (in French: Test Achats) is starting a court case against 4 leading companies in the music industry. Test Aankoop, member of the European Consumer association BEUC, is suing Sony, EMI, BMG and Universal Music at a Brussels court for using technical protection measures on their music CDs that make […]
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Norway: no more court cases for DVD-Jon
The case against DVD-Jon (Jon Johansen) finally ended on 5 January 2004, when the Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (Okokrim) confirmed it would not appeal the upholding of his acquittal on copyright charges to the Supreme Court of Norway. DVD-Jon won the first trial on the 6th of January 2003. The Norwegian Okokrim appealed but Jon […]
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French draft law obliges providers to monitor content
On 8 January 2004 the second reading by the French National Assembly of the draft law on Digital Economy (Loi sur la confiance dans l’economie numerique or LEN) stirred up public controversy. The law aims at transposing the E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC) and part of the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC). The National Assembly […]
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EP Committee wants to jail file sharers
On 27 November the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament finally voted on the Draft Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. The vote was a total victory for the Rapporteur, French Conservative Janelly Fourtou. Every single one of her amendments passed, and so did all of the compromise amendments she had […]
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Retrial of DVD-Jon in Norway
The Norwegian Jon Johansen pleaded ‘not guilty’ during the retrial on 2 December of his acquittal for reverse-engineering DVD technology and creating DeCSS in 1999. DeCSS is computer software that Johansen and others wrote in an effort to build an independent DVD player for the Linux operating system. In January 2003, a three-judge panel in […]
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European court allows trademark Fur Elise
According to the European Court of Justice, music can be deposited as a trademark in Europe. This is the outcome of a test-case instigated by the Dutch trademark agency Shieldmark. The founder of the company Shieldmark formally sued his father, founder of the trademark agency Kist, in order to get a European trademark on part […]
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Commission holds Microsoft antitrust hearing
The European Commission has concluded a three-day hearing against Microsoft. Several competing companies made presentations to the Commission during the hearing. RealNetworks and Sun Microsystems, as well as the Computer and Communications Industry Association have accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant position in the market. The hearing, which took place on 12, 13 and 14 […]
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Draft EU directive on software patents withdrawn
European Parliament rapporteur Arlene McCarthy has withdrawn the draft directive on software patents. The directive will now go back to the committee stage for some more work. A new vote is scheduled for the plenary sessions between 22 and 25 September. Even though officially the European Patent Office does not allow for patents on software, […]
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Demonstration against software patents
Today, both online and off-line demonstrations were organised in a final attempt to change a proposed EU-directive on software patents. The European Parliament will vote on the proposal in the plenary session on 1 September. The demonstrations were organised by FFII. In an open letter to the members of parliament, FFII points out that the […]
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