The European Anti-Piracy Association AEPOC has warned that the proposed EU Directive for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights creates a dangerous concept in ‘legal piracy’. It warns of potentially dangerous side effects from the Directive’s admission that piracy committed by consumers within their own homes should be allowed to continue without sanction. AEPOC says the current draft of the Enforcement Directive on Intellectual Property Rights will ultimately result in the lessening of consumer choice and a reduction in Europe’s cultural diversity.
“A vivid market place can only exist through the quality and choice of offerings, which need to be sufficiently remunerated in order to support a sustainable development. Accepting private piracy equals to opening Pandora’s Box,” warns AEPOC President Jean Grenier. He said that the exclusion of peer-to-peer networks risked trivialising illegal behaviour.
The copying of videotapes and CDs within the home has become common practice, but rights holders are now looking at restricting content to nominated devices, within a subscriber’s domain.