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File Sharers Seek 'Copyright-Free Nation'
by Winter Casey
One of the world's most popular Web sites for illegally downloading films has proposed buying its own nation to avoid copyright laws.
The Pirate Bay is seeking to purchase Sealand, a former British naval platform and self-proclaimed principality six miles off the eastern coast of Britain. From pictures, the country appears to consist of a rusty concrete and steel platform. The island experienced a devastating fire in June 2006.
On Friday, The Pirate Bay established a Web site, www.buysealand.com, to further its cause and raise money. As of Tuesday, the group had reported raising $17,000 -- a long way from the $2 billion the group said it may take to buy the island.
The group's home site, www.thepiratebay.org, was closed by Swedish police in May 2006, then reportedly re-opened using servers in the Netherlands and has been in Sweden again since last June. The site was started in 2003 by the Swedish anti-copyright organization Piratbyran.
The Pirate Bay defines itself as "the world's largest BitTorrent tracker. BitTorrent is a file-sharing protocol that in a reliable way enables big and fast file transfers." The Pirate Bay said Friday on its Web log that BuySealand.com is a site where people can donate "for the cause of getting a copyright-free nation."
"If we do not get enough money required to buy the micro nation of Sealand," the blog said, "we will try to buy another small island somewhere and claim it as our own country."
The island would include "high-speed Internet access, no copyright laws and VIP accounts to The Pirate Bay." The group also pledged to make contributors citizens of the new nation.
The New York Post reports that the online gambling site BetCRIS.com also has expressed interest in purchasing Sealand.
One intellectual property expert said he does not believe current laws adequately address the issues raised by the efforts of the two groups.
Keith Kupferschmid, the intellectual property counsel for the Software and Information Industry Association, said it is common for organizations and companies "that have been responsible for massive amounts of piracy" to attempt to relocate in order to avoid unfavorable laws.
Many countries either do not have copyright laws or have inadequate laws, Kupferschmid said. "These organizations end up moving to these countries -- or buying an island as the case may be -- in order to avoid enforcement," he said. "There is no international standard that can be used to prevent these organizations or companies from engaging in piracy."
Kupferschmid said that often when the United States pursues software pirates domestically, the pirates move outside the country. Kupferschmid argued that international standards are needed for copyright laws in all countries.
Beijing Pursues Intellectual Property Protection
The city of Beijing this week announced a plan for protecting intellectual property for the next four years, China's Xinhua News Agency reports.
"It is the first time the city has incorporated intellectual property protection in the city's overall economic and social development plans," said Liu Dongwei, vice director of the Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Protection Bureau.
The city plans to have 150,000 registered trademarks, including 500 renowned trademarks by 2010. The municipality said it hopes to have an average of 18 patent applications, 12 of which will be invention related, for every 10,000 residents by 2010.
Beijing also plans to train more managerial-level professionals in international intellectual property-related laws and regulations, and to award companies for their IP protection efforts.
The initiative further seeks to protect the city's traditional literature, arts and resources. The plan covers the protection of the city's traditional literature and arts, as well as other hereditary resources.
AOL Looks To Expand European Presence
America Online has been looking to expand its presence in Europe's online market. On Monday, the majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner announced that it had offered about $900 million to acquire TradeDoubler, a European provider of online marketing and sales solutions.
TradeDoubler's board of directors unanimously said it supports the offer.
Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner's president and chief operating officer, said the deal highlights the company's "strategic focus on growing our online advertising business in Europe" and accelerating "the growth of this business." AOL Chairman Randy Falco said the company is seeking to capitalize on the "rapid growth in online advertising and e-commerce in Europe."
Europe Wants Analysis From Polish Regulator
The European Commission said Monday that it has called on Poland's telecommunications regulator to withdraw its plan to regulate high-speed Internet services.
The commission said that the Polish regulator's plan is not compatible with European Union law and that the agency failed to justify why it intends to regulate broadband access services and retail narrowband access.
"So far, retail broadband access services have not been regulated in any other member state," European Union Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding said in a statement. "Regulation can only be imposed on the basis of correct market analysis."
She added that the commission, the EU executive arm, "wants to ensure that the Polish regulator's assessment complies with competition law principles and will not create barriers to the single market, restrict competition or hamper investment and innovation."
Meanwhile, EU justice ministers plan to work toward enabling comprehensive electronic access to the EU legal sector. A commission statement released Tuesday said the ministers "have agreed to coordinate ... the approaches undertaken so far to network the justice sector in Europe and to begin developing standards."
In addition, the commission on Friday launched ERAWATCH, a new online information platform on research systems and policies within the European Union. The site contains information on research systems and policies being developed by EU member states.
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