(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)
A new decision of the Paris Court of Appeal in the case Mulholland Drive considers that there is no right to the private copy that can forbid the presence of the DRMs, but the private copy can be a good argument for defence in cases of counterfeiting.
The case was brought up in 2003 by a consumer joined by the Association UFC-Que Choisir that made a complaint against the producers of the movie Mulholland Drive because the legally acquired DVD was protected by DRMs that did not permit the consumer to make a copy in order to see it on a VHS cassette at his parents' home. The DVD had no clear indication that it could be used only with some specific devices.
After a four year legal battle, with ups and downs, the case was returned to the Court of Appeal in Paris that decided on 4 April 2007 that the private copy of a certain work is not a right but "a legal exception to the principle of copying the entire work without the consent of the copyright holder". Therefore a private copy is not a right, but and exception and no one can start a legal action based on an exception.
However, the Court of Appeal indicated that this exception can be used as a reasonable defence in the case of alleged counterfeit, if the other legal conditions are fulfilled.
The court considered that the lack of the information regarding the impossibility to make a private copy is not an essential feature of such a product, but reminded that the new law in force - DADVSI - would make this information obligatory for any product with DRMs.
The decision can be attacked, again, at the Cour de Cassation
There is no right to the private copy (only in French, 6.04.2007)
http://www.ratiatum.com/news4761_Il_n_existe_pas_de_droit_opposable_a_...
The court confirms the validity of the DVD's anti copying mechanisms (only
in French, 5.04.2007)
http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/informatique/0,39040745,39368472,00.htm...
EDRI-gram: French court forbids DVD copy protection (4.05.2005)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.9/DVD