Where next for copyright in the new Europe?

22.05.2004: 1-tägige hochkarätige Konferenz am Sonntag, den 13.6.2004 in Berlin zu Thema Copyright / Urheberrecht.

Room H 2032, Technical University Berlin, main building Strasse des 17. Juni, Berlin (building 16 www.tu-berlin.de/karten/)

More information and updates at: wizards-of-os.org/index.php?id=921

Associated with Wizards of OS 3: The Future of the Digital Commons 10-12 June, Berlin: wizards-of-os.org/index.php?id=50&L=3

Copyright law has become one of the most important and controversial drivers of the Information Society. The Internet has made every user a publisher, but copyright rules governing their activities are often determined by opaque international bodies that decide rules with little public input.

Join us in Berlin to debate where copyright *should* be going to ensure that authors, musicians, film-makers and the public will all benefit. Engage with leading international thinkers from across Europe and the United States. Meet colleagues who are working to make sure all members of society benefit from copyright.

Attendance is free thanks to sponsorship from the Open Society Institute, but please send an e-mail to workshop@fipr.org to let us know you will be coming for planning purposes.

Programme =======

Influencing the international agenda

Copyright policy has been a strongly international area of law since the Berne convention was agreed in 1886. More recently, the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties have changed copyright law around the world. The European Union has passed five copyright-related Directives in the last twelve years. How can civil society play a full role in policy development in these fora?

1100 Teresa Hackett, Foundation for Information Policy Research: International copyright bodies including the European Union and World Intellectual Property Organisation

1110 Robin Gross, IP Justice: Free Trade Agreement of the Americas experiences

1120 Simon Davies, Privacy International: European Union privacy legislation experiences

1130 Sjoera Nas, Bits of Freedom: European Union spam legislation experiences

1140 Audience

Updating the Copyright Directive

The 2001 Copyright Directive is the key EU law that sets out how copyright works are protected in Europe. A report on its operation should be published by the Commission in the next 18 months, and can recommend changes to improve its effect.

Which parts of the Directive is it most critical to change to benefit the public interest? Given the controversy they have caused, are the articles related to exceptions and technological protection measures most vital? Where does civil society see the most urgency for change?

1200 Ian Brown, FIPR: Experiences in Canada, Australia and Japan

1210 Mindaugas Kiskis, Law University of Lithuania: Collecting societies

1220 Jonathan Griffiths*, Queen Mary, University of London: Protecting free speech

1230 David Mann, Royal National Institute of the Blind: Collaborative arrangements with publishers

1240 Lee Bygrave*, Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law: Ensuring privacy

1250 Audience

1320-1430 Lunch

Implementing the IPR Enforcement Directive

The controversial Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive was pushed through the European Parliament with no time to debate sweeping last-minute changes from the EU Member States. It now covers any infringement of any kind of intellectual property right. How can its effects on civil society be minimised around the EU? Which countries have the most to lose?

1430 Andreas Dietl, European Digital Rights: Remaining problems with the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive

1440 Mariusz Kondrat*, Poland Office of the Committee for European Integration: New member state issues and pharmaceuticals

1450 Georg Jakob, University of Salzburg: Winners and losers from the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive

1500 Slobodan Markovic, Netcentar, Serbia*

1510 Audience

Countries aiming for EU membership in the next decade such as Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are updating their copyright laws as part of an overall effort to harmonise law with the EU. What can they learn from the experiences of new EU members like Slovenia that have already harmonised their laws in the process of joining the EU? Countries further east such as Armenia have signed Partnership and Cooperation Agreements with the EU that include obligations to update copyright law, and even those without formal obligations are influenced by the approach of the EU. What positive and negative effects is this having? How can civil society in the EU and beyond best work together to influence the direction of copyright legislation?

1530 Maja Bogataj, University of Ljubljana: Implementation of EU copyright legislation in Slovenia

1540 David Sanduhkchyan, InterNews Armenia: Right holder demands on ISPs in Armenia

1550 Teo Celakoski, Multimedia Institute, Croatia: Civil society cooperation in the EU and beyond

1600 Tattu Mambetalieva, Global Internet Policy Initiative, Kyrgyzstan: Copyright convergence in central Asia

1610 Sacha Belyaeva, InterNews Russia: Russian copyright law and the All of MP3 service

1620 Veni Markovski, Internet Society Bulgaria: Software company lobbying in Bulgaria

1630 Audience

Do we need a Digital Rights Directive?

Copyright law is often driven by the relatively small groups of right holders whom it particularly benefits. Civil society and the general public have had limited success in having their concerns taken into account in such law. Should we instead push directly for an EU Digital Rights Directive that would tip the balance back in our favour? What would such a Directive contain? Or can we use existing human rights, consumer and competition legislation to change the operation of copyright legislation toward civil society interests?

1650 Ross Anderson, Cambridge University and FIPR: Enforcing competition under trusted computing

1700 William Fisher, Berkman Center for Internet and Society: Reshaping artist compensation

1710 Wendy Seltzer, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Berkman Center for Internet and Society: Fixing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

1720 Ville Oksanen, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology and Electronic Frontier Finland: Balancing consumer and copyright law

1730 Audience

1800 Close

Awaiting confirmation