IPR Enforcement

This is not the message that the European Commission would like to give, but it is what comes across. Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier, speaking in Copenhagen last Thursday, gave his priorities for the European internal market for 2012. He called it the "Single Market 2.0". In summary, he wants reliable online payment systems that can equally be trusted to black payments on request, in respect of mis-behaving music and film download sites.

The European Commission could ask ISPs to block content, and ask payment providers to withold money on demand from rights-holders, following a policy announcment released today. The much-awaited announcement sets out EU official policy on the Internet and e-commerce. It follows a review of the E-commerce directive by the Commission.

Report on European Parliament seminar: 'Self-regulation - should online companies police the Internet'

A sneak preview of the European Commission's plans for the E-commerce directive was given at a European Parliament seminar this week. Although the legislation itself will remain unchanged, the Commission does plan a series of non-legislative initiatives which will address the role of ISPs in taking down content from the Internet, in particular for copyright enforcement. The Commission says that it has no political direction on what it should do, although that is yet to be seen.

Bags- to-bubbly manufacturer LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) is lobbying the European Commission for amendments to EU law which will radically threaten the open Internet as we know it. It's a thinly-veiled variant on what other rights-holders tried to do with the Telecoms Package.

The EU wants more talks with ISPs and Google about 'new ways to enforce copyright'.

After the failed Stakeholder Dialogue, the European Commission now wants to re-start ISP-rightsholder talks under a new chair-person. Robert Madelin, director general for Information Society and Media, has taken over the baton from Margot Frohlinger, head of copyright and IP at DG Markt. The talks will concern copyright enforcement on the Internet. They appear to include Google as well as