Péter Munkácsi was born in 1965, Budapest. He's married and he has four children. Péter is working recently at the Hungarian Patent Office as Deputy Head of Copyright Section. His main responsability is to cooperate in the copyright related official function in relation with the international and the European cooperation (e.g. information service and consultation upon request). Péter frequently participates the meetings of the EU Council Working Party on Intellectual Property (Copyright), and the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR).
Example references to present work experience:
Co-author of the Hungarian survey on economic contribution of the copyright-related industries (The book will be published in Hungarian version in December 2005; the English version will be also available soon within the WIPO);
'Intellectual Property Rights: Impacts on Transatlantic Relations' - a roundtable discussion at the Confernce entitled 'The Future of Europe' - organized by EUI Alumni Association with the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Florence, September 2005;
IPR peer review in Romania - organized by TAIEX for EU Commission, August 2005
Chairperson on the Meeting of the 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961) - UNESCO, June 2005.
Péter had a Bachelor of Law from Eötvös Lóránd Tudományegyetem (Eötvös Lóránd University - Budapest). After that two LL.M. title were awarded by Ruprecht-Karls-University (Heidelberg 1992-1993), later between 1997 and 1998 by European University Institute (Florence).
Péter have various publications relating copyright issues in Hungary. His publication in English: 'Chapter 15 - Copyright Protection of the Euro and the National Legal Tender', p. 345, in Torres-Verdun-Zilioli-Zimmermann (eds.) Governing EMU, Economic, Political, Legal and Historical Perspectives, EUI, ECB, EIB 2004.
Péter likes tennis, playing E-Bass and listening to all kind of music.
RESEARCH ISSUE: An impressive legal development of the Eastern European new EU Member States can be seen in the field of copyright as in many others inside and outside a broad concept of intellectual property. The general situation at the beginning of 90s, when all these countries are in the situation characterised by the basic reform of their previous political structures and by the transformation to become free market economies is the reasons for this development. The increasing importance of the development of the protection of intellectual property in the EU is also reflected in the Europe Agreements and the Association Agreements, concluded over the past years with number of these countries.
Since more than a decade the task and the challenge for the copyright legislators in Countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs) can be defined with three elements, based on Dietz's modell: (i) transformation, (ii) modernisation and (iii) implementation of acquis communautaire into the national law. However, the recent legislative enactments of the new EU Member States from Eastern Europe shows an 'Janus faced' developments: the governmental experts transformed successfully their substantial copyright system into the international and regional standards but they could not find answers to online and digital phenomena. There never was a tremendous difference between the copyright legislation and the reality, then nowadays. There is a low-level perception of copyright by the wide public, users, consumers etc.. In my opinion the cause of the difference is traceable to the missing role of the civil society in Eastern Europe, however the non-profite NGOs represent overall a progression in E-business, Cyberspace, knowledge-based society and the mass media. The main aim of my research as a Non-Residental Fellow to examine the future possibilities of the interested groups, network communities and societies for a better and more efficient participation and online deliberation between the governments.