EU crackdown on product piracy

THE European Parliament passed a contentious directive yesterday to crack down on the piracy of products including football shirts, video games and CDs.

Consumer groups are furious and say the legislation will allow private homes to be raided and children and their parents to be sued for downloading music from the internet.

Opponents say the directive was rushed through in a bid to beat enlargement because the new member states, where piracy is rife, would be unlikely to vote in favour after May 1. Governments are expected to approve it in Brussels this week and will have two years to implement it.

Piracy has cost industry and governments an estimated €8 billion over the three years from 1998 to 2001, according to the European Commission.

But organisations and a number of MEPs raised the issue of a conflict of interest because the report was drawn up under the chairmanship of French MEP, Janelly Fourtou, whose husband Rene is CEP of Vivendi Universal, one of the world’s largest music companies.

Internet service providers are concerned that they can be sued if anybody is found guilty of using their service to download content protected by copyright. However the vote was welcomed by Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley who said: “It’s not perfect but it sets down certain guidelines.”