The EU offensive against IP offences: should right-holders be offended?

摘要

Preliminary comments by interested parties on the draft European Directive on criminal measures aimed at ensuring the enforcement of intellectual property rights and the corresponding Framework Decision were made at a public hearing in the European Parliament on 22 November 2005. At this hearing it became apparent that consensus on the proposed measures will be hard to reach, as right-holders and their lobby groups seem surprisingly reticent with regard to the proposed harmonization. This article summarizes the draft proposal and comments on some of the most relevant observations made at the hearing.