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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...

On 10 May, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory authority -CSA) sent official notice to the channel Canal + after it had broadcast a sequence referring to the election of the new Pope, Benedict XVI, on 20 April in its humoristic, satirical programme Les Guignols de l'Info, referring to the new Pope's childhood in Germany and his enrolment in the Hitler youth movement. In the disputed sequence, which began with a banner on the screen bearing the words "Adolf II", the puppet representing the new Pope blessed the faithful "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Third...

Clown fish can sometimes be real sharks! That seems to be the only conclusion to be drawn from the lawsuit brought by the French company publishing an illustrated children's book entitled Pierrot le poisson clown (Pierrot the clown fish) against the companies Walt Disney, Pixar and Disney Hachette Edition. The former, claiming copyright in respect of its book and ownership of the semi-figurative trade name Pierrot le poisson clown, brought its case against the latter under the urgent procedure and then on the merits of the case when the film Finding Nemo came out. The Regional Court of Paris, deliberating...

In a much-noted decision adopted on 27 April, the Court of Appeal in Paris deliberated on the legality of using technical means to prevent the copying of protected works (anti-copying device on a digital medium) in view of the private copy exception. The original case had been brought by a private individual, backed by a consumer group, who complained that he had not been able to make a video copy of the DVD of the film Mulholland Drive because the digital medium included technical protective devices that were not clearly indicated on the box. In support of their case, the applicants claimed that...