Happy New Year from the French ...

Filed in archive International , International , User Rights on December 30, 2005

... for music lovers, that is.

France May Allow P2P Downloads. The French Parliament voted to allow free downloads of copyright content from the Internet for private use.

The translated legislation - "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."

Consumer digital rights in France are advocated by L'Association des Audionautes, which has defended file sharers sued for copyright infringement. The group supports an ISP tax to compensate copyright holders.

According to the article, "Under French copyright law, there's a concept called 'private copy,' which permits people to make copies of content for themselves or their friends. ... A French court ruled in favor of the organization [L'Association des Audionautes] recently, holding that downloaded content for personal use does meet the 'private copy' definition."

IFPI, the international major music association said it was "greatly concerned" by the Parliament's action.

The legislation still must be approved by the Parliament's lower and higher courts.