European Online Copyright Enforcement Under The Eu "Digital Single Market" Strategy

The Digital Single Market strategy launched by the European Commission in May 2015 has lasted two years,and the realization of the policy objective requires the protection from legal framework.The European Commission initiated the construction of a single legal system at the EU level through the introduction of action plans,public consultation procedures and legislative proposals.In this context,the initiative to reform the copyright law system was formally incorporated into the Roadmap for completing the Digital Single Market by European Commission.With the development of digital technology,online sharing of information becomes more and more common,and a large number of individuals or organizations share the content online without authorization,this phenomenon has become a huge threat to copyright owners and the content of the industry.As the online copyright infringement is easy to implement,with the fact that Internet transcends geopolitical and jurisdictional borders,and the difficulty to identify infringers,the enforcement of copyright in the digital environment is difficult,and the existing legal framework is not enough to grant enough remedy to right holders.According to EU online enforcement acquis,the national courts of Member States of grant different type of online enforcement measures and procedures,it is a big challenge to achieve in the EU level of unification and harmonization.In the context of the Digital Single Market strategy,the European Commission has issued a series of Plans and Communications in the field of online copyright enforcement.Through the analysis of these preparatory works,we can gain an insight into the potential proposal.At the same time,the legislation of EU level needs to take into account the relevant legislative framework of the Member States,and the implementation of EU regulations and directives requires the procedures of incorporation and transformation into domestic law.France,the UK and the Netherlands are well-established examples of best practices for online copyright enforcement procedures and measures,such as "graduated response scheme" and"website blocking" measures,which are the best mechanisms in the fight against online copyright infringement.The European Commission acknowledged that the Directive 2004/48 on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Right was not designed to tackle online infringement,and was not sufficient to deal with rampant piracy and counterfeiting on the Internet.The necessary amendments to the Directive require intermediaries to participate more in copyright enforcement activities to make the enforcement procedure more efficient:first,to increase the obligation of the Internet Service Provider to disclose the identity of the infringer;second,to unify the "notice and take down" procedure in the EU level.In addition to copyright enforcement procedures,online copyright enforcement measures also require new legislation,such as "follow the money" strategy to fight commercial-scale infringement,which can give copyright owners a new and effective remedy.It is noteworthy that the issue of the balance between copyright enforcement measures and fundamental rights and the lack of rules of criminal enforcement measures at the EU level need to be addressed.But these problems are not reflected in the preparatory work of the European Commission.Conflicts between online enforcement and fundamental rights may be entrusted to the national courts of Member States,following the principle of proportionality.The EU can resolve the problem of lacking criminal enforcement measures requires through the conclusion of bilateral,plurilateral and multilateral treaties.