At the end of 2005 the French National Assembly took a surprising decision by adopting unexpected amendments on the draft law that transposes the directive on copyright in the information society. During a night meeting on December 21/22, with only 10% of its members present, the National Assembly adopted (30 pro and 28 against votes) an amendment legalising the exchange of music and video files on the Internet, as private copies.

The amendment meant to complete paragraph 2 of art. 122-5 of the Intellectual property Code is as follows:

" The author cannot forbid the reproductions made on any medium from an on-line communication service by a natural person for his personal use with no direct or indirect commercial purposes, except for the copies of a software other than a backup copy, provided the reproductions make the object of a royalty as stated by article L. 311-4 ."

The amendment comes in total contradiction with the project proposed by the Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, establishing fines up to 430 000 Euro and three years of imprisonment for natural persons condemned for publishing copyrighted works.

The decision was saluted by the Association of Audionauts that suggests the completion of the amendment text with a royalty tax collected from Internet service providers. Those companies would likely raise the money by levying a monthly fee ( they suggested 2 to 5 euros ) on customers who engage in a certain amount of downloading and uploading.

Patrick Bloche, a Socialist representative from Paris who co-authored the amendments, told the New York Times." We are trying to bring the law up to date with reality. It is wrong to describe the eight million French people who have downloaded music from the Internet as delinquents."

The draft must be approved also by the Senate in order to become a law and it is clear that the pressure groups have not yet had their last word in this. In case of disagreement between the two chambers of the Parliament a mixed commission will be created to agree on the final text.

In an attempt to make a common ground for the adoption of the draft copyright law, the Minister of Internal Affairs Nicolas Sarkozy, had a common meeting on 16 January 2005 with the main actors from cinema, music and Internet industries and representatives of consumers. The participants agreed on 7 principles to be followed in the new legislative debates, including ensuring the private usage of legal acquired works or allowing the free sharing of the works for which theirs authors choose this option.

The latest news says that the debate will be resumed in the Senate in February 2006.

France may sanction unfettered P2P downloads ( 22 12 2005)
http://news.com.com/France+may+sanction+unfettered+P2P+downloads/2100-...

The National Assembly wants to legalise the peer-to-peer downloading ( only in French, 22 12 2005)
http://www.droit-technologie.org/1_2.asp?actu_id=1141

Draft law on the copyright and the related rights in the information society, no. 1206 ( only in French )
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/dossiers/031206.asp

DADVSI : Nicolas Sarkozy agrees on seven principles (only in French, 17 01 2006)
http://www.ratiatum.com/news2761_DADVSI_Nicolas_Sarkozy_degage_sept_pr...