DISQUS

matthijs · 3 years ago

Thanks for the write-up Jonathan.

That's one good thing about the EU: the creation of common legislation for all countries in the EU. As markets globalize that's very important.

Hopefully this can be taken even further on a global level, so that international policy becomes more important. And besides the US and Europe, let's not forget Asia.

About the language problem: indeed it can be difficult with so many languages. However, I have a feeling that English is becoming more and more a commonly used language in almost all European countries. Especially since people working on the web are more internationally oriented and might be mostly from a younger generation. Even though we should or could consider working together in translating the most important information and documents. I could help in at least some languages.

What's also important I think is generating a better consciousness of the matter and spreading that knowledge. So that people feel they can indeed take action, even when an infringing party is in another country or continent. But with European and international policy becoming more important that should be possible.

raj · 3 years ago

As far as I know, and as I've been writing about for several years, The Berne Convention (http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/overv...) on international copyright issues was adopted by all member nations of the UN (United Nations). That would include any countries in the European Union as well as the U.S. There are newer documents such as the DMCA, which also need to be taken into consideration at the same time.

JB · 3 years ago

Raj,

The Berne convention is an important document and one I've touched on a few times. It offers a great deal of international guidance as to what is copyrighted, what protections are afforded by copyright law and it provides a set of minimum standards for countries to follow that are, in turn, enacted in to each individual nation's code.

The problem with the convention is that, while it's important, it was drafted in the seventies, well before the advent of the Internet as we know it.

Also, the treaty doesn't deal much with procedures, only protections. You know, roughly, what protections your work has but learning enforcing those rights can still be tricky.

Finally, many member nations haven't implimented all of the requirements of the treat. The U.S., for example, is yet to enforce Moral Rights though it's mandated by the treaty.

The hope is that WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, will help provide some standards of copyright enforcement.

That, most likely, is a long way off though.

Matthijs,

My main problem with the language barrier is that it can be hard to find where to send the complaint to. Even if the person can read English, the challenge of finding their email address on a French or German site can be overwhelming.

raj · 3 years ago

Jonathan, good point. The Convention is getting outdated. Yes, we need more powerful standards, as well as best practices and techniques for actually fighting copyright infringement and general plagiarism. I think that your site is aiding in that regard. Keep up the good work.