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On 30 January, the court of cassation delivered a judgment, one that was both anticipated and noteworthy, concerning the conditions under which a sequel to a work may or may not be produced. In the case at issue, the dispute was between an heir of Victor Hugo and the author of two novels presented as “sequels” to Victor Hugo’s work Les Misérables. In France, the moral right - unlike pecuniary rights which lapse 70 years after the death of the author - is “perpetual, inalienable and not subject to limitation in terms of time. On the author’s death it is transmitted to the author’s heirs” (Art. L....

On 11 October 2000, the Paris Criminal Court found Mr. Noël Mamère, a leading member of the ecologist party Les Verts and Member of Parliament, guilty of having publicly defamed Mr. Pellerin, the director of the Central Service for Protection against Ionising Radiation (SCPRI). Mr. Mamère was ordered to pay a fine of FRF 10,000 (app. EUR 1,525). The Paris Court of Appeal upheld the conviction considering that Mr. Mamère’s comments during a television programme were defamatory as they had compromised Mr. Pellerin’s “honour and reputation” by accusing...

The first decree implementing the "DADVSI" Act on copyright and related rights in the information society of 1 August 2006 (see IRIS 2006-8: 13) has now been published. Regarding the "criminal punishment of certain infringements of copyright and related rights", the text adds Articles R. 335-3 and R. 335-4 to the Intellectual Property Code. Its purpose is to punish two types of behaviour - the possession or use of devices permitting firstly, the circumvention of a technical means of protection and secondly, the suppression of one or more elements of information that accompany the work, and which...

In the opinion of UFC-Que Choisir, one of the most important associations for consumer protection in France, "DRM technology is a total disaster for consumers and for the development of the market for online music". For several months, the association has been spearheading a fierce battle against technical means of protecting works (DRM devices). The main object of the battle is to achieve the interoperability of platforms for downloading music and players, i.e. to prevent the development of the model of a single online sales platform associated with a single brand of players, as is the case with...

In accordance with Articles 1, 3 and 13 of the Act of 30 September 1986, it is the role of the audiovisual regulatory body ( Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel - CSA) to ensure that radio and television services abide by the principle of the equitable treatment of candidates during the run-up to an official election campaign. On 7 November 2006 in this respect, the CSA adopted a recommendation concerning the French presidential election on 6 May 2007. The recommendation applies to all television and radio services, and defines three separate periods for handling election news. Firstly, a preliminary...