Adoption of the law on “protection and diffusion of creation on the Internet”

On Wednesday 13 May 2009, after an eventful history, the law in favour of “diffusion and protection of creation on the Internet” was finally voted by the French Parliament.

Bernard Miyet, CEO of the SACEM Management Board, states: "This law, long awaited by authors, is a welcome step forward after so many years of laissez-faire. It opportunely places once again at the core of our society the need to respect the right of creators to make a living from their works and the value of creation in a context that maintains a balance between the guarantee of authors’ rights and of public freedom. We would like to express our gratitude to the courage and determination of all the artists who expressed their commitment in this struggle."

The fact the text was voted in Parliament bears witness to the importance of culture, its development and renown, in France, the country that “invented” authors’ rights.

At a time when authors, composers and publishers of music have suffered severe losses of their phonographic and videographic rights, which dropped from M€ 149.6 to M€ 100.1 between 2003 and 2008, it had become essential to put a stop to this haemorrhage. Indeed, collections from Internet and multimedia use for that same period rose only from M€ 2 to M€ 8.6, which can in no way make up for the deficit.

At the dawn of the implementation of the “graduated response” or “three-strike” approach, intended to educate and raise awareness among subscribers and web users to their responsibilities and promote the development of lawful services, SACEM will be particularly attentive to the concrete effects of the law on the economics of music, the remuneration of authors and the funding of creation.
As provided for in the law, it will be necessary to assess the efficacy of its enforcement rapidly and on a regular basis in order on the one hand to measure its value for each of these points and, on the other, evaluate its capacity to compensate rights holders for the losses suffered for several years. Depending on this appreciation, it will be important to examine any new measures to propose to possible remedies as well as heighten awareness of their responsibilities among all those who profit, directly or indirectly, from the exploitation, circulation or transport of musical works.

Press contacts

Fabienne Herenberg
+33 (0)1 47 15 45 55
fabienne.herenberg@sacem.fr