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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...

The European Commission has opened an investigation into the long term State aid mechanisms proposed by the French authorities for the funding of France Télévisions, the largest French broadcasting group. France initially gave notice to the Commission of its intention to pay a subsidy for that year in January 2009, while in May the French authorities signalled their plan to introduce the multi-annual funding mechanism. The mechanism consists of funding from the public service broadcasting contribution and an annual subsidy, and forms part of the far-reaching reforms of the public service broadcasting...

Taking note of the decision made by the Conseil d’État on 8 April 2009 (see IRIS 2009-5: 14), the national audiovisual regulatory authority (Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel - CSA) adopted on 21 July 2009 a new "principle of pluralism" that will govern the balance in regard to the proportion of speaking time for politicians on radio and television. Starting on 1 September, this principle will replace the so-called "three thirds" rule (government, majority, and opposition), in force since 1969, which excluded the Head of State for the purpose of the calculation. As a result, the total speaking...