PRED2, the European Union's second intellectual property enforcement
directive, is going to the vote at the end of this month. The European
Parliament's committee on legal affairs, JURI, will be voting on
several amendments to this mammoth bill which threaten to turn IP
infringement from a civil offence into a criminal one. Your MEP needs
to know now why this is a bad idea.
The FFII are calling IPRED2 "The Prosecution Paradise Directive":
"All over Europe piracy and counterfeiting of
'intellectual property rights' are already prosecutable (TRIPS art 61).
The Criminal Measures IP Directive adds disproportionality. The
European Commission proposal is not limited to piracy. All commercial
scale infringements will be crimes, the proposal criminalises IPR
disputes that are essentially of a civil nature and occur between
legitimate commercial enterprises. Even untested rights, which may soon
evaporate in a civil court cases, become grounds for prosecution. And
the rights holders may assist the police."
The Open Rights Group has written this letter to all the UK MEPs sitting on JURI to express its concern at the proposed directive.
But we need your help too. Please take some time to write to your
European representatives and let them know your personal concerns. You
can find out who your MEPs are at WriteToThem.
There's a lot about IPRED2 to object to (and even a little bit to
encourage) in the proposed directive. If you focus on one issue and
explain how it affects you, your MEP is much more likely to sit up and
listen. Keep your letters succinct and polite and if you can, back up
what you're saying with clear references - the FFII IPRED2 website has lists of external opinions and background information, as well as analysis of each of the proposed amendments, which should get you started.
Remember, MEPs, like MPs, are unlikely to appreciate or respond to
copy-and-pasted form letters, so please take the time to put down your
concerns in your own words. Ask your MEP to forward your concerns to
Nicola Zingaretti, the JURI rapporteur, or to their closest JURI
colleague.
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