European Parliament Vote On IP Enforcement Directive Postponed

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

26 February 2004

It has emerged that a European Parliament vote on the enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights has been postponed until early next week, as negotiations between the European Commission and EU member states continue.

In the original draft of the IP enforcement directive, criminal sanctions were limited to infringements of IP rights which take place for commercial purposes. However, following lobbying from the film, music, and software industries, the text of the directive was amended by the EU Parliament's legal affairs committee last year to remove that condition.

According to reports, the European Commission is strenuously resisting signing up to the tougher legislation, and may insist on unanimity amongst EU member states in order to pass the law, where normally a two-thirds majority would be sufficient.

In an attempt to prevent this scenario, however, the Parliamentary vote has been postponed in order to allow the legal affairs committee to meet next Monday with the EC and the Irish government, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

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