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April 26, 2005

Liberte, egalite etc for French DVD owners

A French court has ruled that DVD copy protection devices are incompatible with private copying rights, after French consumer organisation UFC-Que Choisir took up the case of a consumer who was unable to copy a DVD he'd purchased.

The customer wanted to copy Mulholland Drive, a David Lynch film produced by Alain Sarde and Studio Canal, onto a video cassette to allow him to watch the film at his mother’s, who did not have a DVD player.

The translation at Peer Pressure says the Paris Court of Appeal also faulted the DVD producers for lack of consumer information. The label “CP” for “Copy Protected” was on the jacket, but in “small characters” and not sufficiently explicit.

The decision seems to support the view of opponents of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the US, whose opponents claim that it contradicts its fair use laws.

Unfortunately we imagine it doesn't create a precedent under Australian law, where the Government has been so eager to put the interests of copyright holders ahead of the interests of the people who elect them that we don't have a right to private copying, unlike consumers in say, the US, UK, Canada, etc., etc.

Our elected representives are apparently still considering maybe, possibly, giving us the rights of other developed nations. Perhaps if the studios don't object too strenuously. Don't hold your breath.

Posted by cw at April 26, 2005 11:05 AM

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