European Parliament

Pirate Party Gains Second Seat in European Parliament

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 12:28pm.

Brussels - The Pirate Party, a political party centered on less-restrictive copyright schemes, has won its second seat in the European Parliament, TorrentFreak reported. Following the election of a Swedish Pirate Party candidate to a seat in the European Parliament in June, the signing of the Lisbon Treaty by all EU member states this week means that 22-year-old Swede Amelia Andersdotter will take the Pirate Party's second seat in Parliament.

Sweden's Pirate Party Wins Seat at European Parliament

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 8, 2009 - 7:42am.

Stockholm, Sweden - The Pirate Party, a political party founded in Sweden in 2006 to protest copyright laws, took 7.1% of the vote in the country's elections over the weekend, and won one of the country's 18 seats at European Parliament in Brussels, TorrentFreak reported. The Pirate Party more than doubled its membership to 40,000 in the wake of the conviction of the operators of file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay in April, and the enactment of a new intellectual property law that gives copyright holders the right to unmask suspected file-swappers.

European Parliament Rejects 'Three-Strikes' P2P Legislation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 7, 2009 - 8:09am.

Strasbourg, France - The European Parliament has voted to make it illegal to disconnect repeat file-swappers' Internet connections with judicial oversight, one facet of a larger Telecoms Package that was approved yesterday. "What we have done is to make it absolutely clear that the right to access the internet is part of European citizen's fundamental rights and so the Convention on European Rights and Fundamental Freedoms will apply," said Malcolm Harbour, a British member of European Parliament.

European Parliament Rejects "Three-Strikes" P2P Policy

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 27, 2009 - 9:16am.

Brussels - The European Parliament has rejected the notion of terminating the Internet accounts of those alleged to have committed copyright infringement on file-sharing networks. "Governments or private companies should not see the denial of such access as a means of imposing sanctions, as proposed in some countries in the union," reads a report on the matter adopted by the Parliament, referring to the "three-strikes" policy implemented in France.

European Parliament OKs Controversial Software-Patent Legislation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 24, 2003 - 10:47am.

Brussels -- Ending months of heated debate, the European Parliament on Wednesday approved a controversial software-patent. The news will be unwelcome for thousands small companies and open-source software advocates who argued that the law would only help software giants, stifling innovation at the same time. Several multinational technology companies -- such as Microsoft, Alcatel, SAP and Nokia -- lobbied hard for the law's approval. Under the new legislation, companies will not be allowed to patent "pure" software, but will be allowed to patent software-hardware combinations, provided that the software performs a technical function. Proponents say that the law will prevent the European Union from granting patents on Internet business models, as they do in the United States.
http://europa.eu.int/news/index_en.htm

tags: Legislation | Controversial | European Parliament | Software-Patent |