Max Planck Institute Director Reto Hilty: Europe Might Miss Chance For Real Copyright Law Modernization 16/03/2019 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments With the final vote over Europe’s new copyright directive being expected during the Parliament’s March 26th session in Strasbourg, two decades of the copyright wars seem to culminate in another hot battle. Thousands of citizens have taken to the streets during recent weeks warning that the intended changes to liability fundamentally change how citizens can use social media platforms in the future. Article 13 will make providers liable for any copyright violation, pushing them to automatically filter content uploaded by their users. Article 11, the so-called snippet law or link tax, has been pushed for by large publishers in order to compel Google and the likes to share their revenues. Amidst the ongoing fight, Reto Hilty, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (MPI) in Munich, took a cool, analytic look into the two most debated provisions and concludes that the reform–even after a number of amendments – misses on what it originally set out to achieve: adapting copyright to digital times. [Note: this interview by IP-Watch writer Monika Ermert first appeared in German in heise online, hereheise online, here.]
Four Million EU Voters Sign Call Against Upload Filters, Protection Of ‘Snippets’ 13/12/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Ahead of the 5th trilogue meeting on the future copyright regulation between the rapporteurs of the European Parliament, member states and the European Commission on 13 December in Strasbourg, France, copyright activists collected over 4 million signatories to a petition to amend the draft legislation. Meanwhile, a court decision in Germany today puts use of its auxiliary copyright law for press publishers in question.
EU Members Push For Private Censorship Of Terrorist Content On The Internet 06/12/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Big platform providers and small hosters alike shall be obliged to censor, according to a draft regulation presented by the European Commission in mid-September and accepted by EU member states at their Council meeting today.
Fight Over .Amazon: ACTO Countries Cancel Meeting With ICANN CEO 29/11/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The fight over delegating the .amazon top-level domain to Amazon LLC is not over. But the effort of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to cut a deal between the regional Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO) and online retailer Amazon has failed, according to ICANN CEO Göran Marby. [updated]
German Hate Speech Legislation Receives Mixed Review At German Internet Governance Forum 28/11/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment BERLIN — Germany’s controversial hate speech legislation is working well, a representative of the German Ministry of Justice said during a panel today (27 November) at the German national Internet Governance Forum in Berlin.
European Governments Step Up Attention To Internet Governance 15/11/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment PARIS — In its thirteenth year, the UN-led Internet Governance Forum finally seems to be able to turn the tide and get much-needed attention from powerful governments. Opened by a UN Secretary General for the first time since its inception and receiving the accolade of French President Emmanuel Macron, the forum looks toward a brighter future. But how to work as a multistakeholder body remains experimental in many regards.
IGF Needs Bold Reform, Internet Needs More Regulation, Says President Macron 12/11/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron today opened the 13th Internet Governance Forum (November 12-14) in Paris with a firework of requests to the IGF community and some bold ideas. The IGF after a decade should take on much more responsibility in the development of internet regulation, Macron demanded, and said he together with last year’s and next year’s hosts of the UN forum is collaborating on pushing for more formal results, The IGF according to Macron should become a part of the UN Secretary General‘s Office, Macron proposed, to illustrate the importance. His call for regulation was echoed at the event by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
ICANN Frees .Amazon Domain For Company Delegation 25/10/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has lifted the stop on delegating the .amazon top-level domain, effectively handing it to the company over the South American region, depending on agreement with states in the Amazon region.
ICANN63: The “Practical Peace Project” – Tested By IP Rights Concerns And A Privacy Tussle 23/10/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment BARCELONA, Spain — The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is struggling over Europe’s privacy legislation. Is there a data “war” in the making? It is exactly 20 years since the founding of ICANN and two years after being finally fully privatized, and the self-regulatory internet domain name body has been named a “practical peace project underway” by its President and CEO Göran Marby. But it is now struggling with an old issue: privacy and access to personal information in the Whois database.
World Health Summit Berlin: New Global Action Plan; Gates And Merkel To Open Global Challenges 15/10/2018 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment BERLIN — Ten years after establishing the Berlin World Health Summit, the M8 alliance of medical institutes around the globe sees some noticeable progress in political commitment to the health agenda. “Gifts” presented at the opening ceremony yesterday in the German capital include the announcement of German Health Minister Jens Spahn to establish a Hub for Global Health and step up its financial contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO) to 115 million euros over the next four years. The three-day summit also will receive a global action plan to catch up with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 on health and well-being for all.