Is France Trying to Legalize File Sharing?

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

In a very narrow vote (30 - 28), French Parliament members voted 30 to 28 late Wednesday night to accept an amendment proposing permitting free downloads of copyright content from the Internet for private use.

Attached to a broader copyright law proposal, the amendment–roughly translated–reads: “Authors cannot forbid the reproductions of works that are made on any format from an online communication service when they are intended to be used privately and when they do not imply commercial means directly or indirectly.”

In short, that language could “open the way to the legalization of peer-to-peer” downloading of copyright music and movies in the nation of about 8 million Net users, Jean-Baptiste Soufron, a legal counsel with the Association of Audionauts, said in a telephone interview with CNET News.com. The French advocacy organization has represented approximately 100 clients accused of sharing files illegally.

Under French copyright law, there’s a concept called “private copy,” which permits people to make copies of content for themselves or their friends, Soufron said. But lately, he added, “they’re having a huge debate to know if ‘private copy’ includes downloaded content on the Internet or not.”

The Association of Audionauts isn’t suggesting that copyright holders go without compensation, Soufron said. It supports pairing the amendment’s text with a royalty tax collected from Internet service providers. Those companies would likely raise the money by levying a monthly fee–say, 2 to 5 euros–on customers who engage in a certain amount of downloading and uploading. Source: News.com

We Say: Wow, a blockbuster law, if it stands. If it survives in the Parliament’s lower court, it would also have to win approval from its high court. The key is the word “private”, I think. Sort of a take on “fair use“, though not exactly. The idea of a “royalty tax” added to ISP fees is certainly an interesting one. The MPAA made a statement today expressing alarm at this development, as did the IFPI. This is going to be interesting to watch.