EU Parliament’s legal committee votes on IP reforms
The EU Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee is voting on proposed reforms of trademark, trade secrets and copyright law today, June 16.
Voting began at 10:30am CET (9:30am BST).
It will vote on a tabled directive that aims to better define what constitutes trade secrets and harmonise protection for confidential information across the EU.
The rapporteur behind the proposal, covering the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure, is Constance Le Grip of the European People’s Party.
Changes to the Community trademark (CTM) legal framework will also be voted on. Among the proposals, agreed on by the parliament and European Commission and Council, is a drop in CTM renewal fees.
They also want the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market to direct its surplus towards improving cooperation with national intellectual property offices.
Reforms to copyright law put forward by Julia Reda, a member of the Pirate Party, will also be subject to a vote.
Reda has proposed, for example, that public institutions should be allowed to digitise their collections and reproduce the works without the consent of the right owner. She also wants to end geo-blocking of streams provided by both paid services and public service programming across the EU.
If the proposals are approved by the committee, they will head to the full parliament.
