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Europe Tunes In To Internet Radio, TV
by William New
The European Commission this week granted an antitrust exemption intended to increase competition for European television and radio companies that simultaneously broadcast music programs over the Internet.
With the new system, broadcasters will be able to get a single license from royalty-collecting agencies to cover Internet broadcasts across 16 of the 18 nations in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the 15-nation European Union plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The system will not apply in France and Spain.
Under the old practice, broadcasters had to secure licenses from each national copyright administration and local collecting agency. Now any EEA-based collecting society can provide the license for all markets. In addition, fees charged for copyright licenses will be more transparent. The commission will receive proposals by the end of 2003 on how to separate the copyright royalty from the fee covering licensing administration costs for each country.
"The creation of a legitimate marketplace for so-called simulcasting will benefit both consumers and rights holders," European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said in a statement. "Consumers will be able to access their favorite radio and/or TV music programs from virtually anywhere in the world. At the same time, the framework put in place ensures that the rights holders will be properly paid."
The decision arose from a notification by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry on behalf of the copyright administration societies of recording companies. The notification does not involve authors' rights. It was intended to expand the copyright-license process to reflect the global reach of the Internet, the commission said.
The European Digital Media Association (EDiMA), which has worked on the issue, welcomed the commission's clearance of one-stop agreements but called it a "stepping stone." EDiMA President Simon Bazalgette of Music Choice said in a statement, "In order for digital distributors to really be able to secure licenses for digital distribution in the internal [EU] market, this principle must be extended to competition between the rates proposed by collecting societies and must also be extended to other licenses beyond simulcasting of terrestrial broadcasts."
Europe Receives 12,000 Research Proposals
A call to the European scientific community for research topics under a roughly $17 billion, three-year initiative generated some 12,000 responses, the European Commission reports.
The most submissions involved sustainable development, global change and ecosystems, followed by information society technologies. The next two categories were life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health, and nanotechnology and nanoscience.
EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin said in a statement that EU research ministers endorsed the "research framework program" Sept. 30, and the first call for proposals will be published later this year, with the launch of the first projects in 2003.
More than 80 percent of the submissions came from the 15 EU nations, with two-thirds of the rest coming from EU candidate countries. Almost half were from academic institutions, and about a third from research organizations. Industry submitted only 14 percent of the total, but the commission said companies might be holding ideas until the calls for proposals occur.
Europe Launches Nanotechnology Industrial Forum
In 2003, the European Commission will launch a "nanotechnology industrial platform," gathering all major EU stakeholders in nanotechnology. It also will allocate $700 million to nanotechnology research under the research framework program, with the aim of encouraging more investment in the burgeoning field.
One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. Nanotechnology applications include energy storage and distribution, detection, measurement and testing, processors and display technologies, bio-analysis and drug delivery, robotics and prosthetics, the commission said. "Nanotechnology will allow Europe to go one step further -- to do more with fewer resources," Busquin said.
Europeans Assess Implementation Of Privacy Law
In last week's European Commission conference to review the EU data-protection directive, officials leveled substantial criticism at portions of the privacy law but achieved an apparent consensus not to change its basic principles, according to the European E-Alert of the Brussels, Belgium-based law firm Hunton and Williams.
The 400 public-, private- and academic-sector representatives generally agreed that EU nations have diverged too much in implementing the directive, and that the commission should be tougher on proper implementation. The meeting also showed that the commission is unlikely to propose dramatic changes to the directive, instead seeking fixes short of amendment. The commission likely will issue a report on implementation in early 2003, the firm said.
Korea Moves To Secure Electronic Banking
The Korean Ministry of Finance and Economy this week unveiled a draft bill on electronic financial transactions that would make financial institutions responsible for customer losses arising from fraudulent use of personal identification numbers and passwords, computer hacking or network glitches. The bill is expected to be introduced in the National Assembly by year's end, The Korea Times reports.
Financial institutions would not be liable if the breach was the customer's fault, such as the sharing of their ID numbers with others. The institutions also would not be liable for losses caused by wars, natural disasters, fire, power outages or telecommunications breakdowns.
The legislation would characterize mobile-phone operators as financial institutions because they provide settlement services to customers.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japanese businesses reportedly constitute the second-largest user of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after U.S. companies, and they are expressing "considerable" concern over proposed fee increases.
Tomo Yamazaki, director of Japanese affairs for the intellectual property firm Darby and Darby in New York, said that the increases significantly would raise the cost of filing for patents and that filers of complex biotechnology patents would feel the impact especially hard.
U.N. Plans 'Digital Divide' Conference With Business
The Business Council for the United Nations will hold its 2003 "Bridging the Digital Divide" conference at the first CeBIT trade fair to be held in the United States.
CeBIT is the world's largest information and communications technology trade fair. The flagship conference runs for eight days each spring in Hannover, Germany. The first U.S. event will be held in New York on June 18-20.
Business and government leaders who attend will develop proposals for presentation at the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva.
Bill Gates Heads To India
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will visit India from Nov. 11-14, spending each of the four days in a different city, according to the Deccan Herald. Gates will meet with Microsoft's key Indian partners, large companies and government officials.
The trip will be Gates' third to India and highlights the importance of the country to Microsoft as the world's fastest-growing software developer and a sizeable market, company sources said. In his last visit, in September 2000, Gates announced a $50 million investment in a Microsoft development center and $5 million for a rural education program.
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