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

[JackSpratts]

"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."

And that’s the heart of the issue. American legislators in their perpetual self-imposed ignorance follow industry propaganda directives blindly and write these laws, and these harsh new penalties, ultimately destroying any rights consumers may have had under existing law. A scattering of reports from selected European countries show trends moving towards more control with the occasional pro-individual correction, while most countries prefer Finland’s practice of eliminating individual rights with exclusively pro-industry positions.

With a political movement that is almost entirely one-sided and controlled by the corporations and a technological movement that’s nearly as one sided but consumer supported it’s no surprise we see this schizophrenic response. It’s important people take control and do what they want with their information, but it would exponentially better if they participated in the political process as well. When they do we’ll see more decisions like the one from France above. Until, they do however it’ll be more hit and miss – and we’ll continue seeing ambiguity in the responses like those in the decisions below.

- js.


Germany

Linux Programmer Wins Legal Victory
Stephen Shankland

A Linux programmer has reported a legal victory in Germany in enforcing the General Public License, which governs countless projects in the free and open-source software realms.

A Munich district court on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction barring Fortinet, a maker of multipurpose security devices, from distributing products that include a Linux component called "initrd" to which Harald Welte holds the copyright.
http://news.com.com/Linux+programmer...3-5671209.html

Court Decision In Music Industry vs. Heise online
Joerg Heidrich

In the legal dispute (reference: 21 O 3220/05) between eight companies from the music industry and German publisher Heise Zeitschriften Verlag, the first-instance district court of Munich I has just presented its written ruling. The matter in dispute was a report by heise online on a new version of software to make copies of DVDs. In the original version, this report not only took a critical view of software vendor Slysoft's claims, but also provided a link to the company's web site.

The Munich court ruled that, by providing a link to the company's homepage, heise online had intentionally provided assistance in the fulfillment of unlawful acts and is thus liable as an aider and abettor in accordance with Section 830 of the German Civil Code just as the vendor in itself is. While no link was provided to download the software, it could be downloaded two clicks later, which the court found to be inadmissible. For the court, it sufficed that readers could directly access the vendor's web site from the link in the report. The court also did not find it relevant that readers were also able to find the product via a search engine. Rather, it ruled that providing a link made finding the software "much easier", thus increasing the danger of violations of copyrights considerably.

The court did not find that the publisher had a right to provide such links in accordance with freedom of the press as defined in Article 5 of the German constitution. Rather, the provisions of copyright law limit the freedom of the press, in particular in the current case in which the music industry's ownership interests had to be preserved.

On the other hand, the court ruled that the music industry did not have the right to prevent the article in question from being published altogether. In these proceedings, the holders of rights had initially attempted to prevent Heise Zeitschriften Verlag in general from stating that software mentioned by name could be used to crack copy protection systems. In the hearing, however, the court proposed that this ban be limited to the article in dispute. However, in the end the court ruled against the music industry in this point.
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/58315


France

French Data Protection Authority Allows P2P Monitoring
http://constitutionalcode.blogspot.c...authority.html

Movies Downloading Judged Legal In France
Par Audionautes

On Thursday, the French Court of Appeal of Montpellier released a 22 year old Internet user free of charges after he was sued for copying nearly 500 movies on Internet, burning them on CDs and sharing them with friends. The Court based its decision on the article L-122-5 of the French Intellectual Property Code stating that « authors can’t forbid copies or reproductions that are only intented for the private use of the copyist. »

In a similar case in January however, the Discrict Court of Pontoise found another Internet user guilty and condemned him to pay more than 15 000 euros. On the contrary, the French Association of Audionautes helped another defendant who was able to win his case in December in front of the District Court of Chateauroux.

There are still more than 50 criminal procedures pending in France. More than 20 of them are being helped by the French Association of Audionautes.

The french press release of the Association of Audionautes :

http://www.audionautes.net/blog/inde...sateur-de-p2p- relaxe-par-la-cour-dappel-de-montpellier


England

UK Court Orders ISPs To Unmask 33 Filesharers
John Leyden

A British judge today ordered five ISPs to name another 33 music file sharers. The individuals concerned had uploaded more than 72,000 music files to the internet, according to a statement by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), which sought the court order as part of its broader legal offensive against illegal downloading on P2P networks.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04..._p2p_lawsuits/


Finland

IFPI Finland Sends 28 Requests For Investigation By Police Over Piracy

In keeping with moves in several other countries, steps are now being taken by Finnish authorities to stamp out illegal distribution of copyright music material via the Internet.
Suomen Ääni- ja kuvatallennetuottajat (ÄKT, the Finnish Branch of IFPI) have sent police requests for investigations of 28 individuals who they would like to see brought to justice for net piracy through the peer-to- peer file sharing networks.
ÄKT wants prosecutions brought against persons who have been spreading music through file sharing applications such as BitTorrent, KaZaa, eDonkey, and eMule.

The requests to the police represent the first concerted Finnish involvement in an extensive international operation targeting illegal file sharing and safeguarding authors' rights and the legal end of online sales.
Cases have already been brought against users of peer-to- peer networks in the United States, Denmark, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria. Aside from Finland, countries such as Iceland, The Netherlands, Ireland, and Japan have now come on board.

This week a record number of 963 cases have been launched, and in all nearly 12,000 such cases are being heard.
http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/engli.../1101979127547