January 20, 1999
The European Parliament has made an important first step towards
creating the conditions for a legitimate electronic music market, the
organization representing the international recording industry said today.
IFPI, representing more than 1,300 record producers and distributors, said the
vote taken on Wednesday by the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee on the
proposed EU Copyright Directive had put Europe on the road towards
implementing the key international copyright (WIPO) Treaties concluded in
Geneva in December 1996.
The Legal Affairs Committee voted on some 300 amendments that had been tabled
to a draft Directive that is designed to align copyright legislation into the
technologies of the digital era. The Plenary session of the European
Parliament is scheduled to vote on the Directive in the second week of
February.
The amendments adopted by the Committee should, in general terms, have the
following impact on the draft Directive proposed by the Commission in December
1997:
- They strengthen the protection of artists, song writers and record
companies from piracy by amending provisions on temporary copying.
- They improve the rights of artists, song writers and record companies
to use technical measures to protect and distribute their works in the digital era.
- They provide adequate protection against tracking devices which could
be used to undermine those copyright protection systems.