James Delahunty
25 Apr 2005 2:22
Some French news sources are reporting that the Paris Court of Appeals has granted UFC-Que Choisir (a French consumer protection organization), a prohibition on DVD copy protection devices, because they are incompatible with private copying rights. Two companies, Les Films Alain Sarde and Studio Canal, had originally won this case in August 2004 but have been dealt a major setback with this ruling. UFC-Que Choisir supported a consumer who was unable to copy his Mulholland Drive DVD to a VHS tape to watch at his mothers.
However he was unable to make a copy of his DVD because of Copy Protection. The studios were also grilled about poor consumer information practises, having just the letter "CP" on the DVD to represent Copy Protected. It was in small characters and not sufficiently explicit also. Les Films Alain Sarde and Studio Canal have one month to unblock their DVDs. At the same time, Alain Sarde and Universal Pictures Video France must pay 100 euros in damages to the consumer in question. The same two companies, and Studio Canal, must also pay him 150 euros as well as 1,500 euros to the consumer association.
A request for damages and interest by UFC-Que Choisir against Studio Canal was refused by the court however but the case was not about money for UFC-Que Choisir. The association is delighted with the ruling. But for the delegate general of the Video Producers’ Association, Jean-Yves Mirski, the decision is "worrisome" at least. The VPA has not yet decided whether to appeal the decision to a higher court (the Court of Cassation) but it is far from out of the question. In any case, according to Jean-Yves Mirski, this judicial turn of events "directly contradicts the European Copyright Directive."
Source:
01Net (French)
AllPeers.com (English Translation of original article)
Thanks again to AlienTiger who submitted the news to us using the News Submission form.