Loi Hadopi falls at the last hurdle

Fresh from Guardian online is news that the controversial French loi Hadopi (the "three strikes and you're out" approach to dealing with unlawful file-sharers and internet-enabled copyright infringers) has been struck down by the Constitutional Council as being unconstitutional. According to Richard Wray ("French anti-filesharing law overturned"):

"The French judiciary has ridden to the rescue of the country's web users, striking down a controversial new law which would have allowed the state to cut off the internet connections of illegal filesharers for up to a year.

The ruling is a blow to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who had characterised the so-called "three strikes" law as a crucial weapon in the fight against online piracy. ... France's constitutional council ruled today that "free access" to online communications services is a human right and cannot be withheld without a judge's intervention. The council also ruled that the method of policing the web envisaged in the law breaches a citizen's right to privacy.

... Under the French law, which was passed last month after initial resistance from politicians, persistent illegal filesharers were to be warned by email and then letter that they should stop sharing copyrighted material. If they continued, their internet connection could be cut off for up to a year.

... The French ruling, which comes after the country's Socialist party asked the council to look at the legality of the Hadopi law, is unlikely to have a direct impact on the legality of any UK moves to combat piracy by using technical measures because it is based on a reading of the French constitution, rather than EU law".

The IPKat suspects that this will not be an end to the matter, and awaits further developments (possibly from the European Commission in Brussels) with interest.

See also note and further materials here

Thursday update...

From France (via the BBC's website) reaches us the news that the French National Assembly has today rejected to adopt the 'HADOPI' legislation by a 21 to 15 vote . The controversial new law would have would cut off the internet access of copyright infringing illegal down loaders (also see the IPKat's earlier post here). It appears that an amended version of the HADOPI loi will now go before the French parliament in the next few weeks.

To read the French National Assembly's decision, please click here.


The IPKat has received numerous e-mails after posting information on the 'The Patents, Trade Marks and Designs (Address for Service) Rules 2009 (SI 2009/546)', which came into force on 6 April 2009 (see the IPKat's earlier post here).

A closer look at the "Policy background" chapter of the explanatory memorandum reveals the motivation behind the new rules - and will hopefully reassure some of our readers:

"The ... aim of these changes is to avoid the existing Rules being referred to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission. The Commission has expressed the opinion that the current rules limiting choice to a UK address amount to a restriction of the freedom to provide services as enshrined in Article 49 of the EC Treaty. The Commission has argued that, by not allowing a trade mark agent legally established in another member state to temporarily provide services in the United Kingdom unless he or she has an address in the UK for the purposes of notifying documents, the existing rules are in conflict with Article 49, which gives service providers based in one EU Member State the freedom to provide services in another. Challenges to similar legislation in other EU Member States before the European Court of Justice have been successful and have led to such restrictions being removed."

French pass Loi Hadopi

The IPKat, tipped off by his friend Hugo Cox, learned that The Register has provided English-language coverage of today's breaking news that France has passed the controversial 'three-strikes-and-you're-out' law, designed to stamp out rampant file-sharing and illegal downloading of copyright-protected works [for other perspectives on the three strikes solution see posts here and here]

The new law is nicknamed the loi Hadopi, because it creates a "High Authority" (Haute autorité pour la diffusion des œuvres et la protection des droits sur Internet), which will monitor and regulate the use of the internet in France. According to The Register,

"The principle behind the law is simple. Anyone suspected of illegal downloading of material on the internet will receive two letters: a first and a second warning. The first warning will recommend that the user check to make sure that no one is surfing on the back of an unsecured Wi-Fi connection: but it will also point out that it is the subscriber’s responsibility to make sure their net access is properly safeguarded".

This has come a bit too late in the day for this Kat to get his analytical claws into the clauses, but he suspects that there may be a comment or two by the time he logs on again tomorrow night.