November 17, 2006

ECIS expresses concern over the broad scope of the proposed directive on Criminal Measures Aimed at Ensuring the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights

The European Committee for Interoperable Systems ("ECIS") welcomes the discussion
engendered by the Commission's proposal for a Directive on Criminal Measures Aimed at Ensuring the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights ("IPRED2 Directive"), which is intended to "strengthen and improve the fight against counterfeiting and piracy" by providing additional legal tools to "supplement Directive 2004/48/EC of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights."

While ECIS supports the aim of the proposal, it is concerned that the scope of the current proposal is too broad, and creates a serious risk to innovation in the ICT industry, inter alia, by discouraging the development of interoperable new technologies. In order to ensure that the Directive achieves its intended aim, it is vital that the Parliament takes into account the following three key principles when proposing amendments to the Commission's proposal:

1. Patents should be excluded from the scope of the IPRED2 Directive;
2. Only acts of counterfeiting and piracy should attract criminal liability; and
3. Criminal sanctions for aiding and abetting should be either removed from the scope
   of the Directive or limited to acts committed by criminal organisations.

Read the full position paper.