Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-04-23-Speech-1-139"
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"en.20070423.18.1-139"2
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"Mr President, the directive on criminal measures to be applied in order to protect intellectual property represents a change to the Commission’s stance to date on criminal law.
The proposed document reflects the interpretation of the European Court of Justice’s ruling of 12 September 2005 adopted by the European Commission, and allowing the use of criminal measures at Community level, if they are necessary for the successful implementation of Union provisions. In view of the increasing problem of infringement of intellectual property rights the world over, the Commission’s proposed approach seems not only appropriate but also necessary. Every year, the European Union’s GDP loses approximately EUR 8 billion because of counterfeit goods. Individual companies lose approximately EUR 45 to 65 billion each year for the same reason. The scale of the problem is so great that it is estimated that about 40% of computer software in the world originates from illegal sources, along with 36% of the music on compact discs and cassettes.
Accordingly, we should welcome the fact that the maximum penalty for serious crimes committed as part of criminal organisations may be as high as EUR 300 000 and/or a 4-year custodial sentence. It should be noted, however, that pursuant to Parliament’s proposal criminal measures will only be applied to individuals and entities who knowingly infringe the law for commercial purposes. The exclusion whereby the directive does not apply to infringement of the aforementioned intellectual property rights by private users who are not motivated by commercial gain is very important. In addition, it seems justified to exclude patent rights from the scope of the proposed directive, as this will make it possible to avoid determining the content of future provisions in this regard and will restrict the scope of the directive in question to intellectual property only.
As I conclude, I should like to thank Mr Zingaretti, the rapporteur, for a very well-prepared document."@en1
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