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After much discussion of doctrine, it would appear that judges are now to be responsible for the tricky task of deciding on the terms of application of copyright on Internet in France. To recap, it was first decided on 14 August 1996 in a widely-covered case on infringement of musical copyright that copyright applied on networks. In the present case, the commercial court judge, also deliberating in an urgent matter, prohibits and penalises the unauthorised reproduction and representation on an Internet site of a computer programme protected by copyright. The present decision becomes particularly...

The Act of 27 March 1997 transposes into French legislation Council Directive 93/83/EEC of 27 September 1993 on the co-ordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission and Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights (the "Duration Directive"). The Act covers firstly the broadcasting by satellite and retransmission by cable. It renders subject to the Intellectual Property Code the broadcasting of a work towards a satellite from...

The programme Les guignols de l'info is broadcast each day on Canal Plus, and is very popular. The best-known people in France in politics, culture, the economy and sport are represented by puppets. The programme is mainly humorous, often derisive, and sometimes ridicules the characters. How far may ridicule go? Mr Jacques Calvet is chairman of the company PSA which manufactures Citroën cars. He claimed that the products of his trade-mark had been badly treated in these programmes. Contrary to the Court of Appeal in Paris, which held that the content of the programme was purely whimsical, was not...

Television gets through a vast quantity of cinematographic films. It waits impatiently for the cinema screen projection period to run out to show them on the television screen. The possibility of commercial breaks then becomes an essential aspect of the televised broadcasting of cinematographic works. The subject is closely governed by regulation - firstly by the Intellectual Property Code, which protects non-pecuniary copyright very closely, and secondly by audio-visual legislation, which distinguishes between the types of television channel. Private, unencrypted channels may insert one commercial...

On 25 March 1997 the Monopolies Commission reached its decision on the complaint lodged by Canal Plus against TF1 . Canal Plus claimed that the specific discounts TF1 allowed to advertisers devoting more than half their budget to the channel, and the additional discount for advertisers paying TF1 between FF 1.5 and 45 million for advertising, where this represented between 80 and 100% of their television advertising budget, constituted abuse of a dominant position. The Commission refused the precautionary measures Canal Plus claimed, although it did not deny that such practices might constitute...