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France
plans to build a "Europe Digital library"
French Ministry of Culture and Communication said on July 11, 2005 that French
government would set up a organizing and coordinating committee for "Europe
Digital Library", which will be mainly responsible for the research on the
possibility of the digitalization of French cultural property, and work together
with its European counterparts in this regard.
European
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Commission.
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Case Has A New Judge
Bo Vesterdorf is the president of the Court of First Instance (CFI). Vesterdorf
was the judge who in December 2004 threw out Microsoft's attempt to temporarily
halt measures imposed by the European Commission.
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07.13.05
EU
Inside Intel: Antitrust Raids
 By
John Stith
Computing processor giant Intel continues to wade through antitrust and monopoly
charges levied against them by AMD. Today, the EU antitrust authorities raided
Intel's offices in Swindon, England and in Munich looking for evidence in the
antitrust suit.
AMD claimed they got bad Intel charging the largest processor company in the world
severely limited their ability to conduct business. They said Intel forced companies
not to use AMD product by not shipping owed product, paying bonuses, etc. Japan'
Fair Trade Commission already found them liable for coercing Sony and other manufacturers
into using just Intel products.
Intel said from their offices in Santa Monica, California that they are cooperating
on the investigation but won't comment further other than to say their business
practices are both fair and lawful. AMD believes otherwise.
AMD filed lawsuit in U.S. federal court earlier this month charging antitrust
violating but the U.S. hasn't made antitrust cases of any kind a priority at this
moment, emphasizing mergers and cartels.
Many of the charges don't put Intel in "fair and lawful category though. The lawsuit
filed in U.S. court says Intel hammered companies like IBM, Dell, HP, Compaq and
others in backroom deals, offering them bribes, threatening to withhold products,
etc. Similar to practices the Japanese Fair Trade Commission found in their decision
regarding Japanese companies.
Apparently, the EU commission investigating the matter has been working on the
case for over four years but when AMD gave them some new fuel in the fire, they
started pushing the case again and it would seem to have been good information
since the EU raided offices this morning.
AMD filed a lawsuit in Japan for $55 million after the Fair Trade Commission's
ruling after commission noted that Intel had coerced all Hitachi, Sony, NEC Corp,
Fujitsu and Toshiba. In the U.S. lawsuit, 38 companies are mentioned.
As the EU continues its investigation, once can only speculate the direction of
the U.S. lawsuit. AMD looks for a similar time frame to the Microsoft antitrust
suit.
About the Author:
John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
Europe
Wants A Single Music License
 By
David Utter
If an artist wants to copyright a song for Internet transmittal rights in Europe,
the process requires applications to each of 25 countries involved. That's a lengthy,
expensive, complicated process few wish to undertake.
The numbers provide evidence that this is the case. European online music revenues
didn't crack $33 million USD, while sales in the US rang up around $248 million.
Musicians earn money by licensing their songs. But the barrier to entry in the
EU has proven to be as problem. The EU wants to address this by creating a single
copyright licensing agency that would cover rights in all of its member nations.
"Central clearance is not about making content available on the cheap.
It offers a model whereby Europe's creative community will get the lion's share
in revenues achieved online," said EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.
With more content licensed, more music would be available for purchase. In turn,
the EU would collect tax on the sale of each song. The EU sees that single-copyright
source model as one that would save money and increase efficiency overall.
The Commission said in a statement: "(T)he most effective model for achieving
this is to enable right-holders to authorize a collecting society of their choice
to manage their works across the entire EU."
"This would create a competitive
environment for cross-border management of copyright and considerably enhance
right-holders' earning potential."
In a study on copyright and licensing within the EU, the researchers put forth
the opinion that music has "unique potential as a driver for online content services."
About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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