Policy Observatory

Our duty as lawmakers is to find a balance between creators and the justified interests of society. Yet that balance is changing. Transforming technology is changing how people use and re-use information. And disrupting a longstanding legal framework. What should a sound EU copyright system do?

The EU is all about bringing down barriers: barriers to movement, to trade, to opportunity. And that needs to continue.

The evidence shows that – within the EU alone – a digital single market could be worth 4% of GDP; that's on average an extra 1500 dollars a year pocket of each of our half a billion citizens. Make that digital single market transatlantic – and the benefits are there to see: for innovation, for prosperity, for freedom.

The Maltese government announced that, in collaboration with the private sector, will be embarking on an initiative to make Malta an Intellectual Property Hub. The Ministry for Economy said that a solid legislative framework must be put in place to ensure that industry players are offered the highest levels of protection for their intellectual property. In addressing these requirements, the Maltese legal framework ought to provide innovative ways for the proprietors of these rights to exploit and trade their assets as well as use them as a means in themselves for obtaining financing and raising capital, said Minister Cardona.

The World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property and trade this week will discuss a range of issues including a request by least-developed countries to extend the time before they are required to enforce rules on IP and pharmaceuticals. Other issues include a discussion of IP and innovation, and a moratorium on complaints about government actions that do not violate WTO rules but may harm trade.

The WTO Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is scheduled to meet on 9-10 June.

Romanian MEP Siegfried Muresan has initiated a Laboratory of Innovation for Public Policy, which aims to facilitate the exchange of experience among EU countries in terms of public policies that are more efficient and have lower costs. The laboratory, which is a pilot project, has been inaugurated by the European Commission this week.

A U.S. judge on Monday ruled that Microsoft Corp's LinkedIn unit cannot prevent a startup from accessing public profile data, in a test of how much control a social media site can wield over information its users have deemed to be public.