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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=1433
Apple, Microsoft the Losers in EU Digital Piracy
By Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac
December 23rd 2002
The Business Software Alliance fails to get the intellectual property protection they
wanted from Brussels.
Business Software Alliance (BSA) members Apple, Microsoft and Intel have been dealt a
blow by EU countries, most of which have failed to implement the EU's Copyright
Directive, which aims to bring much tighter protection against digital piracy.
Reuters reports that only Greece and Denmark have adopted the laws aimed at protecting
digital distribution of films, music and software. The EU had set a deadline of last
Sunday. Usually, the text of a Directive has a mandatory date set, by which time it
becomes binding upon all 15 member state of the EU.
The BSA, of which Apple is a member, is a global business association. The group
estimates that the EU software industry loses over 3 billion Euro (approx. $US3
billion) to piracy each year, according to Reuters' report.
Similar copyright protection treaties, drafted by the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) this year, were designed to afford intellectual property
protection in Europe, Asia and North America. The EU's Directive was viewed as a
victory for the WIPO, BSA and copyright stakeholders.
A sticking point in a number of EU countries has been compensation each time digital
media is downloaded to a device or duplicated onto another hard drive. Consumer groups
have lobbied heavily against the BSA's proposals, arguing in favor of consumers' right
to legally duplicate material they own for purposes of backup or portability.
The EU's Directive was aimed at harmonizing copyright law in order to ensure there
would not be barriers to commerce as a result of different countries' copyright laws.
For example, an application which made copies of DVD Video discs might be available
for sale under the copyright laws of one EU country, but not in another. One country
would gain a distinct market advantage for the manufacture, distribution, sale and
export of such a product, for instance.
Analysis: This shows you how much clout Apple/MS/Intel can buy. Here's how it works in
Europe:
In Brussels, you're not a serious corporate player unless you've got an office in
town. Brussels is like Washington in an election year, only 24/7. Literally thousands
of firms set up there exclusively for the purpose of lobbying the EU Commission
(mostly) in order to get their proposals enacted into law. Getting national
politicians on side isn't a bad idea either, particularly if you want to block
something that'll kill your profitabiiity. Needless to say, a lot of long lunches take
place.
This is also how MS and Intel manage not to get investigated terribly seriously. They
get local politicians on side because they create a lot of employment, or invest a lot
or something. So competition policy - which isn't well enforced in the EU, anyway,
(unlike (a fair slice of antitrust law in the US) - is pretty lax
Even the Copyright Directive is pretty weak as it stands:
"The moral rights of rightholders should be exercised according to the legislation of
the Member States and the provisions of the Berne Convention for the Protection of
Literary and Artistic Works, of the WIPO Copyright Treaty and of the WIPO Performances
and Phonograms Treaty. Such moral rights remain outside the scope of this Directive."
[the complete text is here.]
In English, that means the EU member countries get to decide what they'll adopt as
copyright law.
For Apple, MS et al it means they better spend their greenbacks getting better
lobbyists. The crew they had on this job didn't do enough lunches. With the right
people.
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