Increasing IPR enforcement through ACTA will not halt piracy of media products

Question for written answer to the Commission Rule 117 Marietje Schaake (ALDE) , Lena Ek (ALDE) , Jan Philipp Albrecht (Verts/ALE) , Zuzana Roithová (PPE) , Petra Kammerevert (S&D) , Christian Engström (Verts/ALE) and Niccolò Rinaldi (ALDE), 31.03.11 The recent report ‘Media Piracy in Emerging Economies’(1) explains that increased enforcement is not the key to combating piracy in developing countries. One of the conclusions of the report is that piracy arises when consumer demand is not met. ACTA could criminalise consumers who are merely finding a way to gain access to cultural goods which are not available to them, due to the barriers created by redundant business models. The report also states: ‘[…] The failure to ask broader questions about the structural determinants of piracy and the larger purposes of enforcement imposes intellectual, policy, and ultimately social costs. These are particularly high, we would argue, in the context of ambitious new proposals for national and international enforcement—notably ACTA.’ 1. Does the Commission agree that — considering what has been found in this report — ACTA will not achieve its goal of halting piracy in developing countries? If not, why not? 2. Does the Commission have a strategy in place to deal with a possible future assessment which would find that ACTA has failed to achieve its goals and/or is counterproductive? If not, why not? 3. Does the Commission agree that Europe should take a leading role in reforming IPRs — such as copyright — on a global scale, to better suit the digital age, to offer new business models a chance to flourish and to give artists a fair chance of exploiting their works worldwide, instead of seeking, but consistently and thoroughly failing, to protect the status quo through more enforcement? If not, why not? 4. Does the Commission agree that it risks alienating potential consumers of media products by increasing enforcement of laws which are outdated and unenforceable in the digital environment without violating some of the consumers’ fundamental rights? If not, why not?