p2p news / p2pnet: France is fast becoming a central battle ground for the right of people to enjoy music without the cynical, bottom-line inspired constraints the music industry is trying so desperately to impose.

It was the first country to propose the legalization of p2p downloading and now a French court has told Warner Music not use DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) on the Phil Collins’ Testify CD, says Aziz Ridouan on the Association of Audionautes site.

“This decision is not definitive but it was supported by the famous French Consumer Association ‘UFC-Que Choisir’ who will not hesitate to defend it in front of the Court of Appeal, if necessary,” says Ridouan, going on:

“It upholds the previous 2005 April 15th decision from the Versailles Court of Appeals about a CD from the French singer Alain Souchon, and the 2005 April 22nd decision from the Paris Court of Appeals about a DVD from the French producer Alain Sarde.

“This decision further upholds various decisions recently issued by French Courts absolving Internet Users of charges after having downloaded music from the Internet:

• Rodez Tribunal Correctionnel, 2004 October 13th : absolved of charges
• Chateauroux Tribunal de Grande Instance, 2004 December 15th : no damages
• Montpellier Cour d`Appel, 2005 March 10th : absolved of charges
• Meaux Tribunal Correctionnel, 2005 April 21st : downloading qualified as private copying, 70 cents / title for uploading
• Le Havre Tribunal Grande Instance, 2005 September 20th : same thing but 20 cents / title for uploading
• Créteil Tribunal de Grande Instance, 2005 November 2nd : absolved of charges for downloading as well as uploading using eMule
• Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance, 2005 December 8th : same thing but using Kazaa

“Finally the decision also upholds the two amendments voted on December 22nd to authorize Internet Content Downloading.”

The French Parliament is slated to address the issue again on February 8, says the post.

Meanwhile, minister of culture Renaud Donnedieu De Vabres, has proposed a system of ‘graduated reprisal’ under which Net users would be monitored by “Culture Industry Agents,” and would be, “automatically required to pay fines of up to 15,000 euros (more than $18,190) if accused of downloading copyrighted content,” says the Audionautes.net.

“Furthermore, there would be no opportunity to consult lawyers or challenge the accusations prior to being fined.”

“Despite this growing body of case law, the French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin will nevertheless defend the project of his Culture Minister. First, he will propose to overturn the two amendments. Then, he plans on proposing a weaker version of the ‘graduated reprisal’ called the ‘graduated response,’ whereby any fines for downloading copyrighted material would be capped at 150 euros.”

Graduated response. Isn’t that a phrase traditionally used by the military?

“French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin will nevertheless defend the project of his Culture Minister,” says the story.

The Association of Audionautes were scheduled to meet with de Villepin, but we haven’t heard what the results were.

But, “It will be interesting to see if other French consumers file individual suits relying on this decision,” adds Ridouan.

“Class actions do not exist under French Law, but a massive movement of Consumers is possible. The UFC-Que Choisir was already able to create one such concerning overpriced cell phone calls.”

(Thanks, Jak)

Also See:
legalization of p2p – Brokeback Mountain banned in China, January 28, 2006
Association of Audionautes – P2p file sharing is legal, says France, December 22, 2006

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 29th, 2006 at 8:45 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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