“On Tuesday, Mother Jones blogger Kevin Drum suggested that we don’t have effective copyright enforcement on the Internet because we just haven’t tried hard enough …” (more)
[Timothy B Lee, Ars Technica, 15 February]
“US copyright laws are designed to protect the ‘fair use’ of copyrighted content such as mash-ups and remixes—or they were, at least, until the advent of DMCA Takedown Notices. The Dutch government has taken notes on America’s IP failures and is reportedly looking to explicitly protect such DMCA fodder, much to the chagrin of the European Union …” (more)
[Gizmodo, 14 February]
“ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a misnomer with a wrongheaded approach. Targeting copyright infringements with the same enforcement tools used against fake goods is both inappropriate and dangerous to our liberties and innovation potential, stated Phil Prendergast Labour MEP for Munster in Strasbourg today …” (more)
[Labour Party, 14 February]
“The international copyright treaty is meant to improve the protection of intellectual property. But critics fear the deal could severely restricts Internet freedoms. Supporters and opponents of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) agree that intellectual property must be protected. But European societies are divided over how this is to be achieved …” (more)
[Anne Allmeling, Deutsche Welle, 11 February]
“The main reason – effectively the only reason – given by Minister Sean Sherlock for pushing ahead with a deeply flawed statutory instrument is that he is acting on the advice of the Attorney General. However, he has not revealed any detail of that advice and we are being asked to take it on trust both that it is correct (a matter which is open to debate) and also that it compels this particular course of action …” (more)
[TJ McIntyre, IT Law in Ireland, 12 February]
“Protesters gathered in several European cities today to demonstrate against proposed EU copyright protection legislation which critics claim could impair freedom of expression online …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 11 February]
“I cannot think of an issue that has highlighted the deep disconnect between politicians and Ireland’s younger population more acutely than the proposed statutory instrument to modify Ireland’s copyright legislation …” (more)
[Karlin Lillington, Irish Times, 10 February]
“Last minute hopes for a controversial statutory instrument dubbed Ireland’s SOPA going back out to the public for consultation have been dashed. The instrument is due to be signed shortly …” (more)
[John Kennedy, Silicon Republic, 8 February]
“Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have announced that they will delay their endorsement of a controversial trade agreement following a tide of public protest …” (more)
[Out-Law.com, 7 February]
“‘We need to address the threat to humanity posed by the tsunami of unverifiable data, opinion, libel and vulgar abuse in new media. I know all the stuff about it being a tool of freedom and democracy, and I also know it has the capacity to destroy civil society and cause unimaginable suffering …’” (more)
[TJ McIntyre, IT Law in Ireland, 6 February]
“Tomorrow, the controversial statutory instrument concerning a change to the Copyright Act 2000 to correct a loophole in the legislation – dubbed ‘Ireland’s SOPA’ – goes before Cabinet. The ultimate decision can go one of either two ways …” (more)
[John Kennedy, Silicon Republic, 6 February]
“The government’s hope of addressing internet piracy using a controversial statutory instrument look increasingly doomed. ‘Irish SOPA’ can’t work, for a variety of legal and practical reasons …” (more)
[Adrian Weckler, Business Post, 6 February]
“Ham-fisted intellectual property (IP) rights on existing technologies hinder subsequent innovation, according to Heidi Williams at the Department of Economics at Harvard …” (more)
[Bernie Goldbach, Inside View from Ireland, 6 February]
“Senior Counsel John Gordon has a clear explanation as to why Sean Sherlock’s proposed copyright regulations are unnecessary in today’s Sunday Business Post. I’ve taken the liberty of reproducing the entire piece here …” (more)
[TJ McIntyre, IT Law in Ireland, 5 February]
“Anti-ACTA protesters gathered in Dublin today to demonstrate against proposed EU legislation which aims to tackle the trading of counterfeit goods and illegal file-sharing online …” (more, pictures)
[TheJournal.ie, 4 February]
“Seán Sherlock’s plan to amend copyright law to allow people seek injunctions against those they believe are infringing their copyright on the internet caused uproar among many web users and certain members of the online community …” (more)
[Miriam Lord, Irish Times, 4 February]
“A controversial international treaty relating to the enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights does not alter the scope of protection around those rights, an MEP has said …” (more)
[Out-Law.com, 3 February]
“So, the Dail (lower house of parliament) debated the proposed changes to Irish copyright legislation yesterday (Tuesday). Over the last ten days, this has become a very significant debate …” (more)
[Daithí Mac Síthigh, Lex Ferenda, 1 February]
“The labelling of the copyright amendment as Ireland’s SOPA has been contested by some as inaccurate. There are differences, it is true. Most obviously SOPA is designed to target ‘foreign’ websites, whereas the Irish SI (Statutory Instrument) makes no distinction between foreign and domestic web sites …” (more)
[Alan Toner, Broadsheet.ie, 1 February]
“Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Deputy Sean Sherlock): Let me start by repeating that I fully subscribe to the freedoms, the opportunities and the access to information that the Internet provides us with …” (more)
[Dáil Éireann, 31 January]
