[DMCA-Activists] French Court Rules Against Copy Protection

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Commons-Law] French court rules against copy protection
Date: Tue, 3 May 2005 13:56:23 +0530
From: Prashant Iyengar <address@hidden>
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French court rules against copy protection

PARIS - A French court has ordered DVD vendors to pull copies of
the David Lynch film "Mulholland Drive" off store shelves as part
of an unprecedented ruling against copy prevention

The appeals court ruled Friday that copy prevention software on
the DVD violated privacy rights in the case of one consumer who
had tried to transfer the film onto a video cassette for personal
use.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7645680/

PARIS - A French court has ordered DVD vendors to pull copies of
the David Lynch film "Mulholland Drive" off store shelves as part
of an unprecedented ruling against copy prevention techniques.

The appeals court ruled Friday that copy prevention software on
the DVD violated privacy rights in the case of one consumer who
had tried to transfer the film onto a video cassette for personal
use.

The ruling could be a major setback for the DVD industry, which
places lock software on disks as part of its battle against
piracy. The industry blames illegal copying for millions of
dollars in lost revenues each year.

"This ruling means that 80 percent of DVDs now on the French
market are equipped with illegal mechanisms," said Julien
Dourgnon, spokesman for consumer advocacy group UFC-Que Choisir,
which brought the case.

"Stores will probably not have to send back products already in
stock," Dourgnon said Tuesday. "But in the future, no DVD or CD
that has the device can be sold."

France, along with other European Union members including Germany
and Spain, has laws guaranteeing the right of consumers to copy
recordings they have purchased for private use.

Lionel Thoumyre, a lawyer for the artist rights group Spedidam,
said the ruling sets a new precedent in the European Union, where
intellectual property laws are nearly identical among member
states.

"This is brand new," he said. "I think this is the first judgment
in Europe going in this direction."

The consumer group filed the suit on behalf of a man who bought
the "Mulholland Drive" DVD and then wanted to copy the movie onto
a videocassette so he could show the film at his mother's home.

The ruling overturned a lower court's decision in favor of the
defendants, co-producers Alain Sarde Films and Studio Canal and
distributor Universal. The suit was filed in 2003.

The defendants also were found guilty of violating French
consumer protection laws, which state that a vendor must notify
consumers of a product's essential characteristics.

The only notification of the copy prevention software on the DVD
in this case were the letters "CP," short for "copying
prohibited," in small print on the cover, a warning that the
court found insufficient.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.

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