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Can a person filmed using a concealed camera in a television report claim compensation for the prejudice he feels he has suffered because of the infringement of his rights in respect of the use made of his image? That was the question facing the press section of the regional court of Paris. In the case at issue, the spokesperson of a distributor of medicines that was the subject of a documentary on sales of medicines on the Internet, broadcast on France 5, was suing the television channel and the production companies for having infringed his rights in respect of the use made of his image. More...

In two judgments delivered with strong reasoning, the press section of the regional court of Paris has implemented the new Article 27-II of the ‘HADOPI’ Act of 12 June 2009 (see IRIS 2009-7: 13) in masterly fashion. The text instituted reduced liability on the part of the director of a publication in respect of messages posted in areas dedicated to free expression for Internet users (mainly discussion forums), since Article 93-3 of the Act of 29 July 1982, which lays down the scheme for liability in the case of press infringements committed by communicating to the public using electronic means...

Article 71 of the Act of 5 March 2009 on audiovisual communication and new public service television has allowed the government to adopt a decree modernising legislation for the cinema and other arts and industries for animated images and to gather together in the form of a Code all the legislative texts, whether part of a code or not, concerning these fields. A decree of 24 July 2009 promulgated the legislative part of a new Cinema Code. The aim of the decree is to simplify and modernise cinema law, which has been based on the dozen articles of the “Code of the Cinematographic Industry” and on...

Since the issue of the protection of projects for television broadcasts is highly casuist, each case where it is raised is worthy of interest. Recently, the regional court in Paris was required to pronounce on the originality of the ‘bible’ for a television broadcast entitled Le Supermarché (the supermarket), devised by a couple of star presenters, which had as its theme inviting a celebrity to fill a supermarket trolley with items reflecting his or her character. The rights for using the programme were sold to a company which refused to pay in respect of the production and broadcast of a further...

On 25 June 2009 the Court of Cassation delivered an important judgment on the much debated issue, in terms of both doctrine and case law, of the legal qualification of video games. A video game incorporates both software and audiovisual elements, alongside other elements (music, text, etc) that are covered by copyright under common law. This raises the question of its qualification, as a unit or in terms of distribution, as each of these elements has been subject to a different scheme. The only legal definition under French law is given in relation to tax, and opts for qualification as software...