The legal basket
Web to more complex activities, such as the massive distribution of music and video materials via the Internet. The Internet also empowers copyright holders, by providing them with more powerful technical tools for protecting and monitoring the use of copyrighted material. These developments endanger the delicate balance between authors’ rights and the public’s interest, which is the very basis of the copyright law. So far, copyright holders, represented by major record and multimedia companies, have been very active in protecting their IPR. The public interest has been vaguely perceived and not sufficiently protected. This, however, has gradually been changing, mainly through numerous global initiatives focusing on the open access to knowledge and information (e.g. Creative Commons). The current situation Stricter copyright protection at national and international level The recording and entertainment industries have been lobbying intensively at national and international level to strengthen copyright protection. In the United States, stricter protection of copyright was introduced through the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. At international level, the protection of digital artefacts was introduced in the WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996). This treaty also contains provisions for tightening the copyright protection regime, such as stricter provisions for the limitations of authors’ exclusive rights, the prohibition of circumventing the technological protection of copyright, and other related measures. More recently, several regulations have been enacted at national and international level, aiming to enforce a tighter control by forcing Internet intermediaries to filter or monitor the dissemination of copyrighted content. After heated debates, France adopted the HADOPI law16 in 2009 which introduces the so-called three-strike procedure against online copyright offenders, which may end up suspending Internet access for the subscriber in question. Then in 2011 in the USA two bills were promoted – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)17 and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA)18 – which provide for new means to fight against online piracy, including blocking access to infringing websites and banning search engines to link to such sites. At international level, an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)19 was negotiated outside the established international institutional frameworks; it addresses IPR infringements in a way that may open the possibility for private (companies) enforcement and policing actions. 97