Music Industry Runs Into Copyright Enforcement Problems In France - Law

As you know by now, the music industry aggressively pursues file sharing networks claiming that the exchange of music on them is a copyright infringement. Well, the industry now has a problem in France.

Music Industry Runs Into Copyright Enforcement Problems In France

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are probably aware of the copyright wars on the net. Nobody has more aggressively pursued copyright infringement claims than the music industry, specifically record labels and their group associations. In the United States, the industry has had great success hunting down and suing defendants whether they be file sharing networks or those dangerous criminals known as kids.

The key to the music industry efforts has always been court rulings. With significant decisions across the country, and eventually one by the Supreme Court, the music industry was given carte blanche to do its thing. Down went Napster and other networks. While the copyright fight in the US has gone well, the industry is having problems in other locations.

In Europe, privacy rights carry far more weight than in the United States. In practical terms, there is little privacy left in the United States thanks to law enforcement and politicians using the terrorist scare to pass legislation that allows them to look into just about anything. Private companies such as those in the music industry have piggy backed this legislation to carry out there claims. Well, Europe represents a problem in this regard.

While privacy rights are dead in the United States for all intensive purposes, it is not in Europe. The books are full of laws protecting an individuals privacy rights, to wit, to keep prying eyes away from looking in on what they are doing. This includes what an individual looks at on the web, what sites they visit and what they do there. This represents a problem for the music industry.

To catch people that file share, the music industry must look into their actions on the web. This puts the effort to protect copyright in conflict with individual privacy rights. So, who wins? In a recent decision in France, the individual privacy rights.

In a case involving a man in Paris, a French court ruled his privacy rights outweighed the copyright of a recording industry monitoring group. In an interesting twist, the case against the man was dismissed and the decision paved the way for individuals to go after the recording industry for violating privacy rights. The French government has also shown interest in criminally prosecuting the recording industry participants that admitted to monitoring 300,000 to 400,000 people without their consent. The potential penalties? 300,000 Euros and 5 years in jail PER OFFENSE!

Obviously, the record industry has sited the above decision as being an anomaly and plan to appeal it. Those interested in the copyright war on the net, should keep an eye out for further developments. The case could lead to a fundamental change in the file sharing situation.

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