Comments on: If Elvis were a digital entrepreneur today

Internet attorney Nancy Prager explains how an EU push to create a common digital copyright policy may serve as the de facto legal framework for the Internet.

[dascha1]

More Protection Now Than Ever

Already proven and presented in this Cambridge IP Workshop
(2005)

Music Performers and Their Protection
http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.asp?id=5046&deptid=3

[hadaso]

Hopefully they'll require registration

Hopefully they'll require registration of a work to get more than minimal protection. There is absolutely no excuse for not requiring those that want legal protection (of the legal system that belongs to the people) to make a minimal effort of registering a work they expect copyright protection for. Not in our era were registration can be as simple as filling an online form (and perhaps uploading a file or sending a copy for keeping so there is something to compare to in case of alleged infringement, or in case some communication provider is required to miraculously identify and block the transfer of "copyrighted content" (which presently means the same as "content" because the only things in the public domain are those that can positively identified as such. Anything unidentified is copyrighted by default).

[taphilo]

One Size Fits All

It seems with the UE is really creating a US style "Federal Government" whose rules will reign supreme over all other nations - real similar to the US Federal Government over states. It also means that the big corporations will likely write the rules of how it will run since they have the time and money to send people to Brussels to convince the staff / politicians and their writers of how copyrights should be governed.

The DCMA implemented in the USA - only implemented due to the USA signing the treaty mostly created by the EU countries - is a result of that European inspiration. Not very good.

With individual people pretty much powerless in the EU Parliament when the law is written by staff people talking with the big publishers / owners of created works, it will only make it easy for everyone to know how many heaps of rules they will have to follow to distribute / enforce / remove copyrighted works from everywhere. The rules will be the same for every country and that cuts out lots of problems for distributors / creators.

This does become a slippery slope.

Next I see the EU wiping out lots of laws in all member nations of the EU that restrict selling of items. If one size fits all then the restriction of selling - or even talking - about NAZI German will also have to be wiped out from everywhere in the EU or allowed everywhere. Since if someone writes something and it is now copyrighted can they bar - censor - that from being published because it shows a NAZI symbol and talks about them? (Think Germany / France.)

The more layers there is till you reach the people who have power to make laws - the less rights an individual has. Seems like there are now 7 layers of Government from the person to the decider in the EU with only 5 layers in the US.

Tom Philo
http://www.taphilo.com