The Parliament has adopted a report on Europe's
cultural industries which rejects the idea of criminalising
non-profit making file-sharers.
"Criminalising consumers who are not seeking to
make a profit is not the right solution to combat digital piracy,"
said a motion passed by the Parliament.
"In the context of rapid technological and
market evolution, and with a view to ensuring that cultural
industries and creators benefit from the development of digital
platforms, [the parliament] urges the Commission to rethink the
critical issue of intellectual property from the cultural and
economic point of view," it said.
The motion said that the Commission should
rethink its policies in the interest of "a balance between the
opportunities for access to cultural events and content and
intellectual property that guarantee fair, effective remuneration
to all categories of right holders, real choice for consumers, and
cultural diversity."
The Parliament's report and motion is not
binding on the European Commission, but is designed to influence
that body's thinking when it creates its next programme of
government.
The Parliament said that piracy should be dealt
with not by criminalising it, but through education. "[The
Parliament] urges the Commission, in the fight against piracy, to
make all parties, including consumers, aware of their
responsibilities and to put in place awareness-raising and
education campaigns [and] invites the Commission to take measures
relating to prevention, education and awareness-raising among
consumers, especially among young people in schools on the value of
intellectual property and creativity in general and to encourage
consumers to respect intellectual property," it said.
The motion also addressed some of the wider
issues about culture and economics and said that the European
Commission should pay more attention to the interplay of the
two.
"The Commission [should] put in place a
structure for strengthening coordination of activities and policies
which have an impact on the cultural and creative sector and set up
a task force for culture and the creative economy, so as to explore
more closely the direct contribution of culture and of creativity
on innovation, economic growth and social development in the
European Union," it said.
In its motion, the Parliament was keen to
stress the rights of users as well as the rights of content
producers. "As a result of the internet, traditional ways of using
cultural products and services have completely changed and … it is
essential to ensure unimpeded access to online cultural content and
to the diversity of cultural expressions, over and above that which
is driven by industrial and commercial logic, ensuring moreover,
fair remuneration for all categories of right holders," it
said.
The Parliament last year approved a measure
which criminalised intellectual property infringement, though
supporters said that it was only relevant in cases of large scale,
industrial copying.
The Second Intellectual Property Rights
Directive (IPRED2) was passed last April by the Parliament and is
aimed at organised crime's IP-infringing activities.
