france
French Youth Make Piracy a “National Sport”
Now boasts having one of the highest rates of software piracy in the European Union as the country’s youth challenge one another “to crack the most elaborate software programs” and rebel against the most repressive copyright legislation in the world. France appears be suffering from a delicious bit of irony these days with news that piracy in some areas of the country is almost double the rate of other members of the European Union. For after having formally passed the controversial “Creation and Internet” law last September the country has been on the fast track to give authorities the power to disconnect illegal file-sharers from the Internet, and would seem an unlikely place for piracy levels to be highest.
Continue reading »EU Commission on ACTA – ‘There is no Treaty’
It appears as though confusion and mixed signals continue to plague the EU commission in more than one committee. Movement in North America on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) may have slowed down today, but the issue is definitely heating up in Europe. Fresh on the heals of the IMCA experiencing difficulty in understanding ACTA , the INTA (European Parliament’s Trade committee) committee had some more dramatic commentary in the European parliament.
Continue reading »10 Million Downloads of Pirated Games in December Alone, Says ESA
The Entertainment Software Association recently pointed to a new study for which it teamed up with the International Intellectual Property Alliance and which found that during last December 9.78 million pirated copies of video games were downloaded worldwide. 200 specific games were subjected to the study which gave the ESA reasons to think the figures could actually exceed those published considerably. The largest illegal content downloaded was found in Italy (20.3 % of the total), Spain (12.5 %), France (7.5 %) and China (5.7 %).
Continue reading »Spain Approves Anti-P2P Law
Will allow judges to shutter websites accused of copyright infringement in as little as 4 days compared to the year it currently takes. The Spanish govt recently approved anti-piracy legislation that will allow a judge with the National Audience, the country’s federal court, to close or block websites accused of facilitating copyright infringement within 4 days as compared to the current year-long process. “The new judicial procedure has no legal loopholes,” says Spanish vice president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega when announcing the measure.
Continue reading »French “Three-Strikes” Agency Logo Violates Copyright
Agency to be charged with overseeing the country’s controversial plan for disconnecting illegal file-sharers from the Internet unveils new logo using typeface without permisssion of the copyright holder. In a delcious bit of irony, the French govt agency tasked with enforcing a controversial “three-strikes” law that will allow authorities to disconnect illegal file-sharers from the Internet unveiled its official new logo to the public only to discover that it was used without permission of the copyright tholder. That’s right, the Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Oeuvres et la Protection des droits sur Internet (HADOPI) is itself guilty of copyright infringement.
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