Europeans are in uproar at chaotic attempts by the EU presidency to rush through 'secret courts' for investors to sue governments who try to protect their citizens and public services.
As part of the Single Market Act, the Commission unveiled today a wide-ranging strategy to modernise intellectual property rights (IPR) in the Single Market. The strategy sets out a blueprint for a number of initiatives the Commission intends to take between now and 2014. Among the first deliverables of this strategy are today's proposals for an easier licensing system for so-called "orphan works" and for a new regulation to reinforce customs actions in fighting trade of IPR infringing goods.