It seems that every year, a high profile anti-piracy entity winds up being on the wrong end of a copyright violation – this year did not disappoint.
This may very well become the most ironic stories of 2009 in the copyright debate. The CBC is reporting that French governing party as led by president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sued by an independent band for copyright infringement.
The president and his administration has been well known for trying to ratchet up copyright laws not only in France, but throughout Europe as well. He has pressured and passed the first “three strikes” law that gets a user disconnected based on three formal copyright complaints. Arguably, the three strikes provision was born in France and has since spread throughout the world due to the major copyright industry trying to get other countries to adopt the laws. In fact, the French administration pressured the European union to adopt the three strikes policy, but the provision has since run into several roadblocks including representatives from Sweden who argued that people are dependent on the internet for cultural exchange.
The French president now seems to be hoping that the issue of copyright infringement would go away. He admitted to using the artists song multiple times for a political campaign which goes beyond the scope of an obtained license. So the administration offered to settle the case for a symbolic 1 Euro. The band rejected the offer calling it insulting.
This is, by far, not the first time a proponent to the so-called anti-piracy movement has been under the gun of copyright violations. Last year, Sony BMG France was sued for software piracy and had some of their assets on a property seized by mandated bailiffs. In 2007, BASCAP, an anti-piracy organization, recieved a cease and desist letter for, again, software piracy. Finally, in 2006, the MPAA was accused of pirating the film ‘This Film is Not Yet Rated’
It’s unclear how the this particular copyright infringement case will end, but many who are familiar with the copyright debate and how the three strikes provisions came about will no doubt be laughing at this latest fiasco.
Related Posts
- YouTube Sued for $13.9 Million for Copyright Infringement
- French Minister – Three Strikes Law Would See 1000 Disconnections Daily
- US Web Hosting Company Sued for Contributing to Infringement
- French Broadcaster Sued for Firing Employee Based on HADOPI Stance
- French Three Strike Proposal Returns to French Parliament
Loading ...
Yeah.
Even though I do approve of the “Political hypocrisy” title that the story is globally truthful and that it would be lying to tell that I like our current president (I’m French)…
The fact that this article mixes up our president with its political party still makes it potentially crappy journalism. It is not a “Sarkozy case”. There are things that one might call “Sarkozy cases” but this is not one of them. AFAIK his name does not appear anywhere in the proceedings.
I’m glad no French paper that I know of would choose to report the issue in the same way you did because it would only have provided the UMP party with the perfect way to distract people from the real issue at hand. It’s sad on the other hand that the current depression ripped this story of any kind of the required momentum that it would require to make the front page.
While I am happy to make any technical correction when a minor detail isn’t exactly 100% correct your assertion that this article has destroyed any “momentum” is completely inaccurate. I wrote this article and it was posted in several high-profile places thus giving international exposure and as you put it giving it an amazing amount of momentum. As you have put it yourself the important details are quite accurate. To my knowledge it’s extremely difficult to separate a political leader from the affiliated political party in many democracies – which is why such a technical detail is so minor to begin with.
Edit: I have made two corrections in the article. I hope you find this article’s accuracy satisfactory.