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The regional court in Paris has just upheld the case brought (jointly) by the graphic artist, designer and director of the credits of Steven Spielberg’s film “Catch me if you can”, which was released in France in February 2003 with the title “Arrête-moi si tu peux”. These professionals had discovered, two and a half years later on the Internet, a trailer for a different film, with images and sequences that the complainants claimed plagiarised their credits, without their names being mentioned. In their defence, the producer of the disputed film, its distributor and the company that designed and...

“The machinery is now in place for digital radio to reach French homes within a year”, declared the Minister for Industry on 13 March at a demonstration of new applications of digital radio, held at the invitation of the main French operators. On the previous day, the Minister for Culture and Communication, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, had referred four draft decrees concerning the development of digital radio and personal mobile television to the audiovisual regulatory authority ( Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel - CSA) for its opinion. The drafts, drawn up jointly with the Minister with responsibility...

The system of “graduated sanctions” against users and suppliers of peer-to-peer networks, proposed by the Government and adopted by Parliament as part of the DADVSI Act, but later set aside by the Constitutional Council in July 2006 (see IRIS 2006-8: 13), have nevertheless returned. On 3 January 2007 the Minister of Justice sent a circular to principal state prosecutors and magistrates “presenting and commenting on the criminal provisions of the Act of 1 August 2006 on copyright and neighbouring rights in the information society”, concerning in particular the circumvention of protective measures...

The Court of Appeal in Paris has just delivered a judgment that illustrates just how difficult it is to appreciate whether or not the concept of a television programme has been used by a competitor, and how necessary it is to be subjective. In the case at issue, two journalists had created a concept for a programme entitled Crise en direct , consisting of a prospective political news magazine. After filing it with the SACD (Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers, a collecting society), they submitted their project to a number of production companies and broadcasters, including Canal+. Some months...

On 8 November 2007, the Minister for Culture and Communication and the Minister with responsibility for the promotion of equal opportunities presented a communication to the Council of Ministers concerning the establishment of an “Images of Diversity” fund. The fund, to be managed by the national agency for social cohesion (Agence nationale pour la cohésion sociale - ACSE) and the national cinematographic centre (Centre national de la cinématographie - CNC), is intended to support the creation of cinematographic and audiovisual works dealing with diversity in France and equal opportunities. The...