In a shock move for the biz, French politicians have surprisingly rejected the proposed “Creation and Internet” law aimed at tackling illegal P2P file-sharing.
The law would have implemented the controversial three-strikes scheme under which an independent administrative authority – called HADOPI – would be entitled to collect copyright infringers’ data from their ISPs, and to ultimately cut off their Internet access cut after two warnings.
It was rejected today (April 9) by 21-15 in a sparsely attended National Assembly vote on the bill.
The vote is a major blow to the international music and film industry, which had largely championed the French proposal.
It is all the more surprising as the French Senate and the Assembly each voted in favor on Oct. 30 and April 2, but the final vote went against the proposal.
“It’s a balanced bill for a legal and civilised Internet,” said culture minister Christine Albanel, but members from the ruling UMP party failed to turn up in strong numbers to vote for the bill. Socialist politicians broke into applause when they won the vote.
“It is disappointing that the law was not confirmed today, but we understand that the French government will be resubmitting the law very shortly,” said John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI, in a statement. “President Sarkozy has been a true champion of intellectual property rights and the proposed law is an effective and proportionate way of tackling online copyright infringement and migrating users to the wide variety of legal music services in France.”
Consumer groups had voiced their opposition to the plan along with some artists, Internet freedom campaigners and French Socialist politicians.
The government can demand that the bill is re-introduced to the Assembly later this year.
