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On 14 July 2005, the Court of Justice of the European Communities delivered a judgment further to the request for a preliminary ruling made by the French Cour de Cassation (Supreme Court).The French Court was in need of clarification on the interpretation of Council Directive 92/100/EEC on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property and of Council Directive 93/83/EEC on the coordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission. The context...

The public cinematographic register was created in 1944 to ensure the legal security of the production and exploitation of cinematographic works by making public the contracts made in this field. The register gives full effect to the financial guarantees specific to the sector, such as security contracts and allocation of revenue. Producers are thus able to obtain from specialist banks the financing needed for the production and post-production stages, and the register is recognised both in France and abroad as a particularly useful instrument of legal security that spares professionals having...

On 31 May the administrative court of appeal in Paris upheld the cancellation of the approval issued by the national cinematographic centre (Centre national de la cinématographie - CNC), thereby denying the film Un long dimanche de fiançailles access to public aid for production, on the grounds that the producer is not European (see IRIS 2005-1: 13). According to Article 7.II of Decree No. 99-130 of 24 February 1999 on financial support for the cinematographic industry, in order to be eligible for such support, "Production companies must also meet the following conditions: (...) 2. Not be controlled,...

On 13 June, the senior assistant presiding judge of the regional court in Paris delivered a particularly high-profile order in an urgent matter which, for the first time, required Internet access providers (IAPs) to prevent access from France to a site with anti-Semitic and revisionist content. In previous cases involving similar disputes as urgent matters, the courts had refused to order filtering of this kind, invoking the principle of neutrality incumbent on the IAPs. On 8 March, eight anti-racist associations had embarked on an urgent procedure before the courts against the providers hosting...

The European Commission has recently approved a financing scheme involving state aid for The Chaîne Française d'information internationale (French Channel for International News - FCII). In making the decision, the Commission observed that the EC Treaty rules on state aid (Article 87) were being complied with. These rules prohibit the granting of aid or subsidies which distorts or threatens to distort competition within the EU single market. However, as an exception to these rules, the treaty allows state aid for the operation of services of general economic interest, provided the aid does not...