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Google has suffered a serious setback, with the court of appeal in Paris delivering four judgments on 14 January 2011 ordering the major Internet player to pay more than EUR 500,000 in damages to various film production companies. These companies had complained that their films were being broadcast in their entirety free of charge via Google Vidéo (the films at issue were two documentaries on the Clearstream case, another on the Armenian genocide, and the feature-length film ‘Mondovino’), even though their withdrawal had previously been requested. Although Google had withdrawn them, the films were...

With the publication of the Decree of 4 February 2010 and the four Orders amending the regulations on financial support for the cinematographic industry, the “Club of 13” has seen its efforts rewarded. The group of thirteen celebrities in French cinema circles, formed in 2008 on the initiative of the director Pascale Ferran, had drafted a report entitled Le Milieu n’est plus un pont mais une faille ("The middle ground is now a fault line rather than a bridge"), denouncing the increasing difficulties in financing and distributing "middle of the road" films in France, i.e., films occupying a position...

In a judgment delivered on 11 January 2011, the court of cassation rejected the appeal brought by the director and producers of the successful film Les Choristes (‘The Choir’) against the judgment of the Paris court of appeal delivered on 25 March 2009. In doing so the court of cassation upheld the acquittal of the advertisers (Free, SFR, Voyages-SNCF, etc.,) on a number of peer-to-peer sites which had been taken to court by the rightsholders on the grounds of complicity in infringement of copyright. The rightsholders accused them of participating in the financing of illegal sites (see IRIS 2006-8/21)....

In a judgment of 17 February 2010, the Court of Cassation ruled on the issue of the liability of video-sharing platforms for the first time. The case is well known: the director and producer of the film “Joyeux Noël” had taken legal action against Dailymotion, accusing the platform of allowing the film to be viewed using streaming technology despite having been sent formal notice to withdraw the film. The regional court in Paris had found in favour of the rightsholders on 13 July 2007 and held the company Dailymotion, categorised as a host service provider, guilty of infringement of copyright (see...

Following on from the Decree of 12 November 2010 (see IRIS 2011-1/26), the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory body - CSA) has adopted a deliberation on the protection of young people, ethical rules, and the accessibility of programmes on on-demand audiovisual media services established in France. Article 15 of the Act of 30 September 1986 gives the CSA responsibility for protecting young people, and requires it to ensure the implementation of all possible means adapted to the nature of on-demand audiovisual media services. The development of a method of consumption that...