Legal Issues of the French Law on Creation and Internet (Hadopi 1 and 2)

Abstract

The French law on “Creation and Internet,†or more commonly known as the “Hadopi 1†Law, passed on June 2009, and its complementary, the “Law for the Protection under Criminal Law of Artistic and Literary Works on the Internet†(“Hadopi 2†), passed on October 2009, were intended to put an end to the illegal distribution of creative works on the Internet and at the same time control the internet access for every user. However, the implementation decree of March 2010 on the “specific negligence†aims exclusively at the peer-to-peer networks, leaving out of the criminal framework the direct download and the streaming options. After presenting and analyzing the French laws “Hadopi 1 & 2,†the authors discuss the controversial findings of a recent French research of the first months of their application in France and eventually question the achievement of the ultimate goal, which is the protection of the French intellectual property rights on the Internet.