The European Union last week confirmed that Maria Martin-Prat would be taking over its intellectual property unit. Among other things, that will give her responsibility for negotiating the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) and the revision of the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (Ipred1), both of which could substantially change the copyright landscape in Europe.
Martin-Prat has worked for the European Commission before and will be returning from a stint in charge of the legal department of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
Yes, Europe has put a record industry lobbyist in charge of the department that will oversee the future of copyright in Europe.
Now Martin-Prat is a lawyer and like many lawyers she's been paid to put forward the views of her client, in this case the record industry. Perhaps this change is similar to a lawyer becoming a judge; perhaps Martin-Prat will evaluate the arguments independently and on merit. However, it's clear that she's been steeped in one side of the argument for a number of years.
In 2003, while working for the IFPI, Martin-Prat argued against the extension of private copying rights. Private copying, she said, "had no reason to exist and should be limited further than it is".
If you want to know why that statement is an attack on the consumer, look no further than this story about hifi manufacturer Brennan being forced to withdraw an advert because it "implied it was acceptable to copy CDs"brennand. Nobody is suggested that these people hadn't paid for the music they wanted to copy but 'format shifting', transferring music from, say, CD to a digital hard drive, remains illegal in Britain. Take a look at the comments to see the anger and disbelief that this story provoked.
Christian Engstrom, a Pirate Party MEP, has criticised Martin-Prat's appointment. He said: "Welcome to the European Union, where the big business lobby organisations are calling most of the shots at the Commission, and where citizens are just seen as a nuisance to be ignored."
He adds: "I guess the only real news is that they don't even bother to try to hide it anymore."
