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Deutsch: ENDitorial: Entwurf zum neuen CR-Urheberrechtsgesetz durchgesickert

A leaked draft of the new Czech Copyright Act was obtained by Pirate News at the beginning of August 2010, after the Ministry of Culture has initially declined the request of Czech Pirate Party to have access to the document three days after the draft was sent out for feedback to organizations affected by the proposal.

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Deutsch: Urheberrecht im digitalen Zeitalter

On 8 June 2010, Green Party Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) hosted the conference Financing Culture in the Digital Era on how to balance easy public access to culture with guaranteed remuneration for content providers.

The purpose of the meeting was to try and find "mutually beneficial solutions" to ensure access to culture while ensuring a decent living to the creators of online content at the same time.

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Deutsch: Rückschlag für dänische und norwegische Anti-Piraterie-Gruppen

The Danish Antipiratgruppen representing the movie and music industries has recently announced it gives up attempts to sue alleged copyright infringers following several defeats in court.

"It requires very strong and concrete evidence to have these people convicted. We simply could not lift the burden of proof," stated Antipiratgruppen lawyer Mary Fredenslund explaining the group's decision.

Out of the four cases of alleged illegal downloading brought before the High Court in one year, three trials have resulted in the defendants being acquitted due to insufficient evidence.

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Deutsch: Frei wie in freie Kultur

Free Culture Forum (FCF), organized by the Spanish NGO Exgae together with Networked Politics and the Free Knowledge Institute turned Barcelona in the capital of free culture for 3 days.

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Deutsch: Verlängerte Urheberrechtsfrist für Tonaufnahmen abgelehnt

The proposal for the extension of the copyright terms for sound recordings was rejected on 27 March 2009 by COREPER, which has the task to negotiate a consensus before the EU Council of Ministers takes votes.

To the great disappointment of the recording industry, COREPER rejected the extension of the copyright term as there was no consensus of the Member States on the matter.

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Deutsch: Irische ISP-Vereinigung weist die Drohungen der Copyrightindustrie ab

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Macedonian: Ирската асоцијација на интернет прова...

After several weeks of silence in the the Eircom deal with IRMA (Irish Recorded Music Association), the Irish ISP Association (ISPAI) has reacted considering the legal threats as spurious and that there is no evidence of wrong-doing by Internet Service Providers.

The Irish ISP scandal has starte

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The war between IFPI and the Pirate Bay continues with a new banning of the site in Denmark ruled by a Danish court at the beginning of February this year.

Exactly a year ago, in February 2008, following an IFPI action, a Danish court ruled that Tele2 had to block its users from accessing The Pirate Bay. Now, the court has issued a preliminary injunction against DMT meaning that all ISPs owned by DMT have to deny their users' access to The Pirate Bay. Also, in January 2009, TDC, the largest Danish ISP and owner of most of the cables, decided to block access to the Swedish site as a preventive measure.

However, ISPs are not happy with the decision and three of them, TDC

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A roundtable on online retailing with the interested private companies, including online music providers, and consumers organisations took place at the European Commission in Brussels on 17 September 2008 with competition commissioner Neelie Kroes and internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy.

Ms Kroes expressed her concern regarding the barriers in buying music online: "Why is it possible to buy a CD from an online retailer and have it shipped to anywhere in Europe, but it is not possible to buy the same music, by the same artist, as an electronic download with similar ease?