French Attempt at Legislation Requiring ISP's to Assist in Controlling Piracy Hits Snag
On April 9, 2009, in a lightly attended session, 16 members of the French Senate rejected La Loi Hadopi (Haute autorité pour la diffusion des œuvres et la protection des droits sur l'internet, or "HADOPI"). This law would have required internet service providers to monitor their subscribers' use of copyrighted works and impose "three strikes and you're out" penalties under which a repeat offender would lose his internet access for up to a year. The law also would have created a commission to monitor compliance with the law and deal with disputes.
Critics of the bill have argued that the proposed sanctions would be ineffective, because a user could regain internet access by simply creating a new account name.
In the post-mortem on the defeat of HADOPI, most commentators have cited as the primary reason for the defeat a provision that would have required a booted user to continue to pay the ISP for service he was now prohibited to use. The French Socialist Party, whose members were responsible for the defeat in the Senate, have now called on supporters of HADOPI to concede defeat. However, most commentators expect a new version of the bill to be introduced shortly.
From the perspective of a copyright holder, the HADOPI concept holds promise for controlling infringement A number of other countries are watching developments on this bill closely, and have considered or are considering similar legislation.
David D. Johnson is a business lawyer whose practice focuses on litigation and other issues relating to digital media and consumer electronics companies. David can be contacted at (310) 785-5371 or DJohnson@jmbm.com.
