[P2P-F] cc to be made illegal in portugal

[Miguel Afonso Caetano]

Hi Michel,

2011/7/20 Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>:
> http://www.technollama.co.uk/is-portugal-about-to-make-creative-commons-illegal
>
> Dear Miguel,
>
> is this something you could report on for us?

I think there was an overreaction. I'm afraid the whole thing was
somewhat blown out of proportion. This proposal only concerned the
compensation collected by the Portuguese collective copyright agencies
with every media that enables the copying of content in exchange for
the right granted to consumers to make private copies of the CDs, DVDs
and books they legitimately bought. Basically, it would disallow
authors who want to receive that compensation to publish works with CC
licenses. But since those authors have already renounced the right to
receive any compensation for any copy/reproduction made for private,
non-commercial uses, this proposal wouldn't apply to them. A few weeks
later Creative Commons Portugal released a statement corroborating
this interpretation:
http://www.inteli.pt/uploads/cms/20110617183817_Proposta_de_Lei_da_Copia_Privada_NAO_ilegaliza_licencas_CC.pdf.

On the other hand, there could be a problem with works published with
non-commercial licenses. These authors wouldn't just be able to
receive any compensation from private copy. Overall, I would say that
the worst effect this proposal could have would be to enforce a
discrimination of CC licenses. This wouldn't be too much of a
surprise, anyway, because the text was mostly the output of a
collaboration between the now extinct MInistry of Culture and SPA
(Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores), as well other collective copyright
societies. The biggest problem is that Portuguese authors who want to
ease the work of collecting royalties from the commercial exploitation
of their works and at the same time have those same works published
with Creative Commons licenses can't sign in to SPA because basically
this collective society doesn't allow its members to establish any
contract with other organizations besides SPA:
http://www.spautores.pt/destaques/vamos-penalizar-cooperadores-que-nao-cumprem-a-regra-da-exclusividade-contratual.
In other words, they have to individually negotiate with interested
parties.

Anyway, since this proposal was revealed a lot of changes occurred in
the Portuguese political scenario: the general elections that happened
in June 5th brought a new coalition government situated at the
center-right wing of the political spectrum. Nonetheless, I'm afraid
that the real danger is yet to come. That is because the new
government has already announced that it's his intention to present
not only a new law regarding private copies but a second law against
piracy: http://tek.sapo.pt/noticias/internet/governo_promete_leis_para_pirataria_e_copia_p_1164132.html.
I really don't know what to expect from the latter, but I think the
former will be just a rehash of the first proposal with the most
controversial articles striped but still expanding the tax for private
copies to storage media like external and internal HDs, cellphones
with multimedia players, iPods, tablets, etc. This is the same kind of
law that has generated a strong opposition in Spain against the
government and SGAE ("canon digital").

Best regards from Portugal

>
> I'm wondering if it is possible to have an attitude that makes it possible
> to share and alienate rights to the commons, but not to corporates?
>
> this would address some of the concerns of the portuguese lawmakers?
>
> Michel
>
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-- 
Miguel Caetano

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