Have you ever noticed how the French like to snub their noses at people and things? Usually it is at the United States and Americans, especially those Americans visiting their country. Now, it seems the French are about to snub their collective noses at a new, more specific target...the entertainment world.
France is about to become the first country to pass a law broadly permitting free downloads of copyright content from the Internet for private use. In a move that could thwart the entertainment industry's attempts to seek legal sanctions for copyright violations, French Parliament members voted 30 to 28 this week to accept an amendment proposing such a move.
The amendment is attached to a broader copyright law proposal. It reads, "Authors cannot forbid the reproductions of works that are made on any format from an online communication service when they are intended to be used privately and when they do not imply commercial means directly or indirectly."
In short, that language could open the way to the legalization of “peer-to-peer” downloading of copyright music and movies in the nation of about 8 million Net users. Under French copyright law, there's a concept called private copy, which permits people to make copies of content for themselves or their friends. Lately, there is a huge debate whether or not “private copy” includes downloaded content on the Internet. This new bill and its attached amendment, if passed, will clear this up.
The music and film industries in America and around the world are up in arms about this already and are marshalling all their forces to defeat the bill, and if necessary, tie it up for years in the French legal system.
More when it happens.
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