A few days have passed since the Italian Communication
Authority (AGCOM) issued its Regulation on Online Copyright Enforcement [breaking news by
The 1709 Blog here and extremely helpful and detailed
comment on the IPKat here].
Today, The 1709 Blog is delighted to publish a further analysis by its highly-reputed
world expert on AGCOM matters, who so writes in incognito [is he/she a member of AGCOM? A Google
employee? A lawyer from a law firm? Nobody really knows …]:
“Following
the enactment of AGCOM Regulation, commentators are still debating what this
new mechanism may entail for IP protection and freedom of the Internet.
Meanwhile, there appears to be one thing that the Regulation will bring for
sure, suggest some [naughty] practitioners: more business for the
legal sector. So considered, law firms in Italy are getting ready for dealing
with a possibly hugely increased amount of (administrative) litigation to which
the Regulation may give rise from 31 March 2014 (this being the date when this is
due to enter into force).
In this
perspective, this blog's readers Portolano e Cavallo Studio Legale’s Regulation
Toolkit may come as a helpful resource to navigate safely the sea of the AGCOM
Regulation. The Toolkit is composed of two documents. The first one is a non-official English translation of the final version of
the Regulation. Notably, its English appears to be much more stylish (and not
less reliable) than the one used in the official English translation of the
first draft, penned by the AGCOM itself and available here.
The
second document is a graphic handbook where the pillars of the Regultion are delved with thanks to user-friendly
red-coloured charts. To give 1709 Blog readers a preview, here are some
pillars' pills on the procedure (regular track)…
… and
on the “tragedy” that an ISP may face in case of non-compliance with AGCOM’s
order:
Beyond
the procedural diagrams, the Portolano's Toolkit is also worthwhile to learn
some vocabulary. Thanks to its help, the foreign reader (and the Italian one alike)
may become aware of brand-new categories that might populate the Italian
copyright enforcement world from March onwards.
One of
the most intriguing is "digital work", i.e. the particular subject-matter that the Regulation aims to
protect. Pursuant to Article 1, (p), this is "a work, or parts thereof,
with audio, audiovisual, photographic, videoludic, editorial and literary
nature, including the applicative programs and the computer operating systems
protected by Copyright Law and diffused on electronic communication networks".
It is somehow innovative and super-broad definition that well-highlights the
wide scope of application of the Regulation and of AGCOM’s potential influence
in the Italian IP scenario in the next future. Another “alarming” one is "Webpage
Manager" that, pursuant to Article 1, (h) is "who, within a
website, manages a page where are present digital works or part thereof or
hyperlinks […] to the same".
Are 1709 Blog authors Webpage Managers? No one still knows, but in any event
please
consider carefully that the red diagrams above are (likely to be) copyright-protected and that our Portolano friends own the relevant rights.
 |
| Average highly-trained team (of trainees) specialised in handling AGCOM requests |
Interestingly,
in the last slide of the Handbook the Portolano guys suggest that the potential
targets of AGCOM orders (i.e., hosting
and access providers) may have to “setup internal processes to manage AGCOM
requests”. This might be handled by an “internal
team trained and specialised in AGCOM requests and proceedings management”. Considering
the fines that an ISP may be ordered to pay in case of non-compliance (from EUR
10,000 to over EUR 250,000), this might be a good idea. But is this at
hand for newly established start-ups and ISPs with shoulders less broad than those
of big multinational tech companies?"
No comments:
Post a Comment