From Ian Brown of FIPR:

Where next for copyright in the new Europe?
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13 June 2004

Room H 2032, Technical University Berlin, main building
Strasse des 17. Juni, Berlin
(building 16 http://www.tu-berlin.de/karten/)

More information and updates at:
http://wizards-of-os.org/index.php?id=921

Associated with Wizards of OS 3: The Future of the Digital Commons 10-12
June, Berlin: http://wizards-of-os.org/index.php?id=50&L=3


Copyright law has become one of the most important and controversial
drivers of the Information Society. The Internet has made every user a
publisher, but copyright rules governing their activities are often
determined by opaque international bodies that decide rules with little
public input.

Join us in Berlin to debate where copyright *should* be going to ensure
that authors, musicians, film-makers and the public will all benefit.
Engage with leading international thinkers from across Europe and the
United States. Meet colleagues who are working to make sure all members
of society benefit from copyright.

Attendance is free thanks to sponsorship from the Open Society
Institute, but please send an e-mail to workshop@fipr.org to let us know
you will be coming for planning purposes.

Programme
=========

* Influencing the international agenda

Copyright policy has been a strongly international area of law since the
Berne convention was agreed in 1886. More recently, the World Trade
Organisation Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation
Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties have changed
copyright law around the world. The European Union has passed five
copyright-related Directives in the last twelve years. How can civil
society play a full role in policy development in these fora?

1100 Teresa Hackett, Foundation for Information Policy Research:
International copyright bodies including the European Union and World
Intellectual Property Organisation

1110 Robin Gross, IP Justice: Free Trade Agreement of the Americas
experiences

1120 Simon Davies, Privacy International: European Union privacy
legislation experiences

1130 Sjoera Nas, Bits of Freedom: European Union spam legislation
experiences

1140 Audience


* Updating the Copyright Directive

The 2001 Copyright Directive is the key EU law that sets out how
copyright works are protected in Europe. A report on its operation
should be published by the Commission in the next 18 months, and can
recommend changes to improve its effect.

Which parts of the Directive is it most critical to change to benefit
the public interest? Given the controversy they have caused, are the
articles related to exceptions and technological protection measures
most vital? Where does civil society see the most urgency for change?

1200 Ian Brown, FIPR: Experiences in Canada, Australia and Japan

1210 Mindaugas Kiskis, Law University of Lithuania: Collecting societies

1220 Jonathan Griffiths*, Queen Mary, University of London: Protecting
free speech

1230 David Mann, Royal National Institute of the Blind: Collaborative
arrangements with publishers

1240 Lee Bygrave*, Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law:
Ensuring privacy

1250 Audience


1320-1430 Lunch


* Implementing the IPR Enforcement Directive

The controversial Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive was
pushed through the European Parliament with no time to debate sweeping
last-minute changes from the EU Member States. It now covers any
infringement of any kind of intellectual property right. How can its
effects on civil society be minimised around the EU? Which countries
have the most to lose?

1430 Andreas Dietl, European Digital Rights: Remaining problems with the
Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive

1440 Mariusz Kondrat*, Poland Office of the Committee for European
Integration: New member state issues and pharmaceuticals

1450 Georg Jakob, University of Salzburg: Winners and losers from the
Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive

1500 Slobodan Markovic, Netcentar, Serbia*

1510 Audience


* Copyright beyond the EU

Countries aiming for EU membership in the next decade such as Romania,
Bulgaria and Turkey are updating their copyright laws as part of an
overall effort to harmonise law with the EU. What can they learn from
the experiences of new EU members like Slovenia that have already
harmonised their laws in the process of joining the EU? Countries
further east such as Armenia have signed Partnership and Cooperation
Agreements with the EU that include obligations to update copyright law,
and even those without formal obligations are influenced by the approach
of the EU. What positive and negative effects is this having? How can
civil society in the EU and beyond best work together to influence the
direction of copyright legislation?

1530 Maja Bogataj, University of Llubljana: Implementation of EU
copyright legislation in Slovenia

1540 David Sanduhkchyan, InterNews Armenia: Right holder demands on ISPs
in Armenia

1550 Teo Celakoski*, Multimedia Institute, Croatia: Civil society
cooperation in the EU and beyond

1600 Tattu Mambetalieva, Global Internet Policy Initiative, Kyrgyzstan:
Copyright convergence in central Asia

1610 Sacha Belyaeva, InterNews Russia: Russian copyright law and the All
of MP3 service

1620 Veni Markovski, Internet Society Bulgaria: Software company
lobbying in Bulgaria

1630 Audience


* Do we need a Digital Rights Directive?

Copyright law is often driven by the relatively small groups of right
holders whom it particularly benefits. Civil society and the general
public have had limited success in having their concerns taken into
account in such law. Should we instead push directly for an EU Digital
Rights Directive that would tip the balance back in our favour? What
would such a Directive contain? Or can we use existing human rights,
consumer and competition legislation to change the operation of
copyright legislation toward civil society interests?

1650 Ross Anderson, Cambridge University and FIPR: Enforcing competition
under trusted computing

1700 William Fisher, Berkman Center for Internet and Society: Reshaping
artist compensation

1710 Wendy Seltzer, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Berkman Center
for Internet and Society: Fixing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

1720 Ville Oksanen, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology and
Electronic Frontier Finland: Balancing consumer and copyright law

1730 Audience

1800 Close

* Awaiting confirmation