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Geiger, Christophe --- "Counterfeiting and the music industry: towards a criminalization of end users? The French ‘HADOPI’ example" [2012] ELECD 956; in Geiger, Christophe (ed), "Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012) 386

Book Title: Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property

Editor(s): Geiger, Christophe

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849801461

Section: Chapter 19

Section Title: Counterfeiting and the music industry: towards a criminalization of end users? The French ‘HADOPI’ example

Author(s): Geiger, Christophe

Number of pages: 17

Abstract/Description:

The music industry is a good example to study when reflecting on the appropriateness of criminal sanctions in the field of intellectual property. In fact, in this sector, infringements of copyright can result from the behaviour of Internet end users that have nothing in common with organized commercial entities making large profits from counterfeiting activities. This is in particular the case with the widespread practices of music file sharing through peer-to-peer networks, activities involving large parts of the population, most of whom can be considered ‘good people’ and not shameless and greedy Internet ‘pirates’. Recently, some national legislators in Europe passed new legislation in order to directly address the issue and to combat downloading through peer-to-peer networks. France was the first European country to legislate on the delicate question of file sharing on the Internet and adopted a complete body of regulation on the subject. Since many similar initiatives are currently discussed at national level and because it is not impossible that the French example could serve as a model for a European initiative in the near future, it is worth having a close look at its recent anti-file sharing legislation in order to assess its merits.