[DMCA-Activists] French Court Authorizes P2P Transmission as Private Copying

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Upd-discuss] French court authorizes P2P transmission
as private copying
Date: Tue,  7 Feb 2006 13:25:13 -0500
From: Elizabeth Stark <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden
CC: a2k discuss list <address@hidden>

French judge authorizes downloading and uploading of copyrighted
content on the
Internet

February 7, 2006

Paris, France--An Internet user defended by the Association of
Audionautes (ADA) was released free of charges by the District
Court of Paris after downloading and uploading music and movies
on the Internet.

The decision, dated December 8, 2005 and made public this week,
is available online at:
http://www.juriscom.net/documents/tgiparis20051208.pdf

Several Internet users defended by the ADA have already been
released free of charges for having downloaded copyrighted
content on Internet on the basis of the "private copying"
doctrine:
- Rodez Tribunal Correctionnel, October 13, 2004: Absolved of
charges
- Châteauroux Tribunal de Grande Instance, December 15, 2004: No
damages
- Montpellier Cour d'Appel, March 10, 2005: Absolved of charges
- Meaux Tribunal Correctionnel, April 21, 2005: Downloading
qualified as private copying, 70 cents / title for uploading
- Le Havre Tribunal Grande Instance, September 20, 2005: Same as
above, but 20 cents / title for uploading
- Créteil Tribunal de Grande Instance, November 2, 2005: Absolved
of charges for downloading as well as uploading using eMule

But this decision is the first one to authorize both the
downloading and uploading of P2P content for Internet users. On
September 21, 2004, the prosecutor's office found 1875 MP3 and
DIVX files on the defendant's hard drive. Based on this
discovery, a French record producer association known as the SCPP
(Société Civile des Producteurs Phonographiques) sued him for
downloading and uploading 1212 music tracks.

The District Court of Paris, however, refused to agree with the
SCPP's argument.  Following the line of reasoning utilized by the
ADA for nearly two years, the Judges decided that these acts of
downloading and uploading qualified as "private copying."

While the case has been appealed to a higher court, Aziz Ridouan,
President of the ADA approves of the current verdict and is
confident that it will be affirmed. According to Jean-Baptiste
Soufron, Legal Counsel of the ADA, "This most recent decision is
consistent with the definitive decision of the French Appellate
Court of Montpellier. It is an important stepping stone in our
fight to legalize P2P."  France was the first country in the
world to propose the legalization of P2P downloading to
Parliament.

About the Association of Audionautes:
The Association of Audionautes is a non-for-profit organization
founded by French high school and college students in order to
respond to the abusive threats of the music industry. It aids
more than 100 people in organizing lawsuit defenses, and consists
of more than 6000 members including students, lawyers, and
artists.

Press contact:
+33 624 414 265 (french) / +33 617 962 457 (english)
address@hidden
www.audionautes.net

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