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On 21 April 2004, the European Commission announced its decision to refer to the European Court of Justice the six Member States that had still not fully implemented the new regulatory framework for electronic communications into their national law (i.e. Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). The new framework was to be implemented by July 2003, but 8 Member States failed to meet this deadline and in October 2003 the Commission opened infringement proceedings against those States (see IRIS 2003-10: 5 and IRIS 2004-2: 4). Proceedings against two Member States, Spain (see...

On 16 May 2004, Belgium’s French Community and the French Republic signed a two-year renewable agreement aimed at supporting the co-production of cinematographic works. This replaces the 1962 agreement on cinematographic relations. According to the agreement, cinematographic works co-produced in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in it are regarded as domestically produced and thus reap the benefits associated with this classification. The conditions for enjoying these benefits are as follows: works must have been approved by each party’s competent authorities (the Centre du Cinéma...

Reality shows on television at least have the merit of raising the question of qualification as an "audiovisual work" under French law, and the relevant definition. This is decisive, as it determines which legal and financial systems apply to the work. However, the difficulty lies in the multiplicity of definitions, each with a separate area of application. Thus, in addition to Article L. 112-2(6) of the Intellectual Property Code, Article 4 of the Decree of 17 January 1990 lays down the general principles for the broadcasting of cinematographic and audiovisual works on television by giving a negative...

In 1992, in accordance with the terms of a code of good conduct drawn up by the CSA (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel ­ audiovisual regulatory body) provisions were integrated into the Act of 16 July 1984 with a view to better reconciling the public's right to information and the television channels' exclusive holding of rights to broadcast sport events. Thus Article 18-2 of the amended Act provides that the vendor or acquirer of the right to exploit a sports event may not oppose the broadcasting by other audiovisual communication services of brief extracts taken free of charge from the images...

Is the film The Fifth Element a victim of its own success? Apparently, as illustrated by a recent ruling by the Regional Court in Paris in a case the producer and director of a film brought against the cell phone company SFR and the advertising agency Publicis on the grounds of infringement of copyright and parasitic use. Luc Besson and the company Gaumont claimed that, in a major advertising campaign for a new service offered by the phone operator, the defendants had presented the actress who starred in the film, Mila Jovovich, in the appearance and costume of the main character in the film, placing...