3 Count: Six Points

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1: EU Identifies 6 Issues to Modernize Digital Copyright, Including Cross-Border Portability and Private Copying

First off today, Paul Sawers at The Next Web writes that the European Commission (EC) has held an “orientation” debate” on copyright in an effort to find a path forward for harmonized copyright rules in the bloc. Currently, there is a great deal of variance in the way copyright is handled in the countries within the organization and, to address that, they have identified six points that they want to address quickly.

Those points include cross-border portability of lawfully acquired goods, user-generated content (in particular remixing), text/data mining, private copying levies, improving cross-border access to audiovisual works online and providing copyright exemptions to cultural heritage organizations. These issues will be a part of a “stakeholder dialogue” to be launched in 2013, with hopes of deciding on legislative reform in 2014.

2: Italian Court Orders Nationwide Block of TorrentReactor and Torrents.net

Next up today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that an Italian court has just ordered all of the nation’s ISPs to block TorrentReactor and Torrents.net. THe move follows an investigation by the Agropoli Fiscal Police office and it follows similar blockades against The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents and BTJunkie.

The move was applauded by the nation’s record industry, which said that the move was especially important with the holiday season. However, other popular Bittorrent sites remain unblocked. According to a representative from the local music industry, the sites were targeted because, following the other blocks, they became the most popular two sites for Italians to use for piracy.

3: Netflix Buys Exclusive Rights to Disney Movies

Finally today, Ben Fritz and Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times report that Netflix, the popular video streaming service, has signed a deal with Walt Disney Studios to obtain exclusive rights to movies to movies that they produce. The agreement takes effect in 2016 though many of Disney’s movies are available non-exclusively immediately.

The move strikes a blow against the distributor Starz, which previously held the distribution rights and licensed them to Netflix. This means that Starz will lose its distribution rights to Disney content when their current deal ends in 2016. This is the first time a studio has signed a direct deal with Netflix, which usually obtains rights from distributors like Starz. However, getting rights from other studios may prove tough as most are already closely partnered with premium cable networks such as HBO.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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