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The dividing line between fiction and reality is sometimes very narrow, giving rise to many disputes. Following on from the problems raised by the production and broadcasting of “docu-fiction” works (see IRIS 2006-3: 13 and IRIS 2006-10: 12), this time it was the matter of the inclusion of “private images” in a full-length film that was submitted to the regional court of Paris. The dispute was between the producers and distributors of the successful film “Comme t’y es belle” (first screened in May 2006 and seen by more than a million cinema-goers) and a member of the audience who was surprised,...

The French authorities have notified to the Commission a tax arrangement intended to support video game production studios. In order to be eligible for the tax credit, worth up to 20% of the production cost, video games must either be an adaptation of an existing work of European origin or satisfy a test of quality, originality of concept and contribution to the expression of European cultural diversity and creativity as applied to video games. Thus, the French plan aims at selecting video games that constitute cultural products. The Commission entertains doubts as to the criteria used to select...

In a decision adopted on 27 September, the Conseil d’Etat has now laid down the way in which the procedure instituted by Article 42-3 of the Act of 30 September 1986, as amended, is to be implemented. According to this text, the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory authority- CSA) may, without prior formal notification, withdraw a radio or television station’s broadcasting authorisation in the event of a substantial change in the information on the basis of which the authorisation had been issued, more particularly as the result of changes in the composition of company capital...

As the public service channel France 3 is preparing to broadcast a docu-fiction on the murder of “Little Grégory”, a legal case in the 1980s that attracted much attention from the media and which was never elucidated, court action to preserve the privacy of the people involved in the case continues. A judge in Paris sitting in urgent matters has already dismissed an application from one of the witnesses in the case (see IRIS 2006-3: 13), and now the regional court in Nancy has received applications from other parties in the case. The wife and children of Bernard Laroche, Grégory’s uncle, who was...

In a judgment delivered on 28 September, the regional court in Paris ordered the production company of a popular television programme (“C’est mon choix”) to pay damages to its presenter, Evelyne Thomas, for having broadcast 62 broadcasts from the previous season over the summer of 2004 without her authorisation. Ms Thomas was an employee of the company until June 2003, when she created a company to “manage, exploit and promote the image, on any media, of Ms Evelyne Thomas”. In July 2003 the two companies concluded an agreement under which Ms Thomas’s company would be entitled to receive payment...