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<DIV><STRONG>EP/ INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: 35 MEPs TABLE AMENDMENTS TO
PROTECT USERS' PRIVACY, AND FOR PROPORTIONALITY OF COPYRIGHT SANCTIONS AND FAIR
ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL PROCEDURES.</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Marco Cappato, radical MEP, tabled 5 amendments on the proposal for a
directive on measures and procedures to ensure the enforcement of intellectual
property rights (Fourtou Report), with the backing of the Radical MEPs and
signatories collected among the Green, ELDR, EPP, UEN and GUE Groups.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The five amendments are aimed to protect individual privacy, limit the
harmonisation of the enforcement of property rights only at the level of
commercial-scale infringement and eliminate legal tools that are not recognised
in many Member States.</DIV>
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<DIV><STRONG><EM>Declaration of Marco Cappato:</EM></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><EM>"The primary rationale for enacting the enforcement directive is
supposed to be the reduction of distortions in the EU Single Internal Market by
reducing disparities between national laws. However, this rationale does not
apply to unintentional or non-commercial scale acts of infringement. Given the
differences in Member States' copyright and related right laws, and trademark
laws, there are significant differences as to which acts constitute infringement
under different national laws. For instance, when consumers create an MP3 copy
of an audio CD that they have purchased and burn it on to a CD-ROM for personal
use in their cars, this may be infringement in one Member State, but not in
another. Furthermore, small businesses that in good faith use software that is
later alleged to infringe copyright should not be targeted in the same way as
commercial counterfeiters. Accordingly, it is appropriate and proper to
harmonise enforcement only at the level of intentional commercial infringement,
since it is the only standard that is common across Member States, and is the
relevant focus for removal of distortions within the Internal Market.</EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM>The directive lacks balance and proportionality since average consumers
face the same treatment as major commercial counterfeiters for minor
infringements with no commercial impact."</EM></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The amendments also aim at better protecting all affected parties' due
process and privacy rights by limiting pretrial judicial applications to cases
of commercial infringement. Without this limitation there would be a substantial
risk that such applications would be used as means of harrassing individuals on
a large scale, rather than as the proper preliminaries to a substantial civil
case.</DIV>
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<DIV><STRONG><EM>For further information:<BR></EM></STRONG><A
href="mailto:mcappato@europarl.eu.int"><STRONG><EM>mcappato@europarl.eu.int</EM></STRONG></A><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>