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The French Parliament’s examination of the audiovisual reform bill was due to begin at the end of March. On 28 April, following the indefinite postponement of this process on account of the health crisis, opposition MPs tabled a draft law “designed to strengthen instruments to combat piracy of copyrighted works and establish a plea agreement measure.” Under the plea agreement system, a fine would be paid in order to avoid court proceedings for certain offences. It is worth recalling that the government’s audiovisual reform bill makes provision, in particular, for the...

With the adoption of the Act of 24 July 2019 creating a neighbouring right for press publishers and agencies, France became the first country to transpose the EU Copyright Directive’s provisions on neighbouring rights. Under the Act, a search engine’s use of article excerpts (‘snippets’) may be negotiated in the form of a licence agreement with the relevant publishers, in return for payment, if the excerpts are read rather than the original article (see IRIS 2019-9:1/17). However, on the day the new provisions entered into force, 24 October 2019, Google announced its...

With cinemas closed, filming suspended and festivals cancelled, the cultural sector is being hit particularly hard by the current health crisis. On 18 March 2020, Minister of Culture Franck Riester announced various measures and emergency funding of EUR 22 million to support the sector. Those working in the sector can also benefit from the general emergency measures adopted by the government, which include grants from the solidarity fund (initially worth EUR 1 billion, then increased to EUR 7 billion); the deferral or staggering of rent, tax and social security payments; and the mobilisation of...

As part of an exceptional set of measures contained in Article 17 of the Emergency Act to combat the COVID-19 epidemic, which was enacted on 23 March 2020, a week after the President of the French Republic declared the lockdown of the French population, the president of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (National Centre of Cinematography and the Moving Image – CNC) is allowed to grant an exemption from the official four-month window between a film’s cinema release and its release on VOD, DVD or Blu-Ray for films that were being shown in cinemas on...

In a press release issued on 14 April, the French national audiovisual regulatory authority (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel – CSA) wrote: “During this severe health crisis, a time when questions, the need for information and issues surrounding social cohesion are more important than ever, the media carry enormous responsibility. This requires them to be vigilant at all times in view of the serious risk of misinformation and to be particularly rigorous in the presentation and processing of information, including in visual illustrations.” This stern warning was...