Relations between the U.S. and the European Union (EU) have had t...

Thurs. Goodlatte has been in Europe this week talking to European Commission (EC), Parliament and EU member states’ officials about intellectual property (IP), e-commerce and the Internet. The trip included presenting EC Pres. Romano Prodi with Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) recommendations for beefing up the partnership between the U.S. and EU, Goodlatte told us. The recommendations, endorsed by U.S. and European political and business leaders in Dec. in Washington, set out a 10-point, 10-year (2005-2015) action plan aimed at improving the transatlantic partnership. Included in the plan are: (1) Broadening the transatlantic market for the digital economy -- including security, privacy and IP -- competition policy and regulatory cooperation. (2) Building a transatlantic “community of action” for regional and global cooperation founded on 6 priorities, one of which is the war against terrorism. (3) Beefing up constructive involvement of relevant U.S. and European civil society groups in transatlantic partnership priorities. (4) Agreeing by Dec. 2005 on the major elements of a “Transatlantic Partnership Agreement” between the U.S. and EU to be implemented beginning in 2007. Goodlatte and other lawmakers also talked spam with Information Society Comr. Erkki Liikanen, urging him to let ISPs take the lead in suing spammers. The U.S.’s new CAN-SPAM Act gives only ISPs private rights of action, and EU privacy law leaves room for the EU or member states to encourage ISPs to get involved, Goodlatte said. ISPs are the right parties to take action because they're where most of the spam solution lies, he said. Goodlatte and his colleagues also discussed the controversy raging over a proposal to stiffen IP rights enforcement. Language -- originally floated by the EC -- that would limit the directive to commercial infringements or those causing significant harm to rightsholders aren’t in accord with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or the Trade-Related Aspects of IP Rights Agreement, he said. The latest draft under discussion applies to all infringements.