Hopes Still Pinned on Frances Illegal Download Bill

French lawmakers in the National Assembly on April 9 may have defeated the bill that would have given French authorities the power to disconnect Internet connection of those who download music or copyrighted materials illegally. But authors, musicians and all other owners of Intellectual Property in France are optimistic that the illegal download bill will ultimately go through when it is presented again in the next parliament session before summer.

Sources say that given the huge interests of the music, movie and the publishing industry riding on the illegal download bill, France will ultimately have to pass the bill even if it is a watered down version of the one originally proposed.

"The French National Assembly may have defeated the bill on Thursday but the process is not finished," said a source from a powerful lobby of Intellectual Property owners pushing that bill, requesting anonymity. "We have been assured by the Government that the bill will be presented again in the parliament before summer and the present Government is also working on a revised version."

The source added that even though the bill contained some controversial and "tough measures", it was defeated more because of sparse attendance in the parliament rather than real opposition to the bill.

"The bill was defeated by 21 (against) to 15 (for), which means that there were just 40 members present that day," said the source. "Being the day before Easter most others who would have supported the bill were on a holiday."

The bill championed by the president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was supported by the influential association of authors, composers and publishers SACEM, as well as French Union of Phonographic Producers, which represents 48 French producers including giants like Universal Music and Sony BMG.

The proposed law was supposed to grant new powers to monitor Internet users and report illegal downloads to a new copyright protection agency, called HADOPI (Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Œuvres et la Protection des Droits sur Internet). HADOPI would have had the power to trace via IP (Internet protocol) address of all Internet users illegally downloading copyrighted materials. After three warnings HADOPI would have also had the power to severe the Internet connection of the offender for up to a year. Offenders nevertheless would have had to keep paying for their internet connection despite it having been cut off.

Sources say that this was the most controversial feature on the proposed law that attracted a fair amount of criticism. Civil liberties campaigners and members of the opposition Socialist party for instance said that the new surveillance powers were tantamount to "the criminalization of an entire generation".

Some also feared that the proposed law could end up punishing, for instance, parents whose children download in secret, or employers whose staff use computers at work to break the law.

"We are aware that the Government is now working on the law to smoothen out the rough edges so that it could be introduced again in the next parliament session," said the source. "While it is true that some of the measures in the proposed bill were harsh, it is also true that illegal Internet download is seriously harming the music, publishing and the movie industry."

In an internal document circulated to members consiting of over 124,000 authors, composers and publishers, to garner support for the this law, SACEM that acts as a not-for-profit company to collect royalties, rights and fees, said that despite the huige revenues generating power of the Internet, its "revenues from exploitations on the Internet or mobile phones increased only by $4.4 million, rising from $3.4 million in 2003 to $7.76 million in 2007.

But in 2008, its earning from the "Internet was next to nothing."

"Collections from multimedia, including the Internet (at $12.3 million) remain at abnormally low levels," said SACEM. It added that illegal downloads have actually resulted in a reduction of its total collection for 2008 which at $998 million represents a 0.4 percent fall over the previous year, 2007.

"Although the fall in total revenues (in 2008 compared to 2007) were minimal it is deplorable considering that the Internet is supposed to increase revenues for the Intellectual Property owners," said the source.

What's more, SACEM predicts the growing menace of illegal downloads could make its total collections fall by a further 2.8 percent in 2009.

According to SACEM then, it is urgent that France has a law that bans exploitation of Intellectual Property owners through the Internet. It argues that just like traditional distributors of audio and audiovisual content like cable operators, satellite platforms, and the likes, the Internet too should contribute to the remunerations of Intellectual Property owners.

"It is essential that the public authorities understand the disastrous financial consequences of the crisis affecting the music sector in recent years. Combining the considerable loss of revenues from the phonographic market and the constant devaluing of works on the Internet resulting from a decade of free file sharing, it has become illusory to think that rights holders will be able to straighten out this situation or benefit from appropriate remuneration in future years," SACEM said in its private document to its members.