French Court says DVD copy protection illegal

[Drakonix]

It probably won't stand long, but here it is:

French court rules against copy-protected DVDs
4/25/2005 9:21:04 PM, by Eric Bangeman

In a ruling made public today, the Paris Court of Appeal has decided that the Content Scrambling System used to copy protect the contents of DVDs is trumped by the fair use rights of French consumers.

The case was brought by a consumer who found himself unable to make a VHS copy of a commercial DVD for viewing on a VCR (his mother did not have a DVD player). The legal battle has been spearheaded by French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir which previously brought suit against EMI over copy-protected music CDs last summer. More recently, the group sued Apple and Sony over the proprietary music formats used in their respective music stores, alleging deceptive trade practices.

When originally heard in the Court of First Instance in 2004, the case was decided in favor of the defendants, Les Fils Alain Sarde and Studio Canal. On appeal, the Paris Court of Appeals found that not only was the CSS used to copy protect DVDs illegal, but that the two companies did not adequately inform the consumers that the DVDs were copy protected. The companies now have one month to remove the copy protection from their DVDs and must pay €100 in damages to the consumer as well as €1,500 to the UFC-Que Choisir.

While it's nice to see a blow struck for Fair Use rights, even if outside the US, the decision may not stand. The DVD producers still have the opportunity to appeal to a higher court in France. In addition, there is the question of the European Union's directives on copyright — which allow for the use of copy protection systems — and how that should impact a consumer's right to make a copy of media he owns for his own use. The problem with legally-unbreakable DRM is that along with snuffing out consumers' Fair Use rights, it has the effect of giving the content producers a perpetual copyright on the content by allowing them to control how it is used.

From ComputerUser Newsletter (April 25, 2005 Issue)
Article Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050425-4846.html