From: "Rich Gauszka" 

Looks like YouTube is toast in the EU

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=20318

 EU directive aiming at harmonising national criminal law was backed by the
European Parliament when it adopted on Wednesday a first-reading report on
legislation imposing criminal sanctions for the infringement of
intellectual property rights.

If ultimately adopted, the directive will oblige all Member States to
regard any intentional infringement of an intellectual property right
carried out on a commercial scale as a criminal offence.

The European Parliament decided that criminal sanctions should apply only
to infringements deliberately carried out to obtain a commercial advantage.
Piracy committed by private users for personal, non-profit purposes is
therefore also excluded.

The proposed directive aims to ensure that national judicial authorities
will always be able to impose sufficiently serious penalties by setting out
minimum levels for the upper limits on punishments imposed by national law.

At present maximum fines for violating intellectual property rights range
from œ586 in Greece to œ67,000 in Holland.

Under the new directive, in cases of serious crimes committed by a criminal
organisation, the maximum penalty must be at least ?300,000 and/or four
years' imprisonment. The same applies where the offences carry a health or
safety risk. For less serious infringements, the maximum penalties should
include criminal and civil fines of at least ?100,000. Aiding or abetting
and inciting anyone to infringe intellectual property rights will also be
treated as a criminal offence. In some cases, remedies can include the
seizure and destruction of counterfeited goods.

This is the first directive using criminal law. The text adopted by the
Parliament will be sent to the Council for discussion by national
governments.

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