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March 13, 2005

is downloading legal in france?

Maybe (from Donna Wentworth at Corante)… any French legal authorities out there who could provide additional insight/info? 

My first of many questions:  is the 22–year old really only using the copies for “private use of the copyist” when he is sharing them with friends?  Is downloading a copy of a movie (presuming he didn’t pay the copyright owner) personal use?

Via Frank Field @ Furdlog, this news from Audionautes.net: "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.'"

CoCo blog (who helpfully provides a link to the statute in English):

This does not mean that the Court has judged that movie downloading is now legal in France on a general basis. Though I have not (yet) seen the judgment, it (probably) gives the indication that private use may be a defense against a claim of copyright infringement for downloading. While this might be called a recognition of the private copying clause in the digital environment, it is not clear if this will hold up. There are currently about 50 comparable criminal cases pending, and in the past users have been sentenced for these acts.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 11:37 AM.
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