II-4.1 : A Decree of December 23rd, 2009 appoints the members of the College and of the Copyright Protection Commission of the “Haute Autorité pour la diffusion des œuvres et la protection des droits sur Internet” (HADOPI)

Context and Summary

The Act of June 12^th, 2009 to promote dissemination and protection of creative works on the Internet implemented a new independent administrative authority, the Haute autorité pour la diffusion d’œuvres et la protection des droits sur Internet (Hadopi—The High Authority for the Dissemination of Works and Copyright Protection on the Internet), which is why it was called the Hadopi I Act.

This Authority will be composed of a College of 9 members, presided by Madame Marie-Françoise Marais, councillor to the Cour de Cassation (French Court of Cassation), and a Copyright Protection Commission, composed of 3 members.

In order to contain the phenomenon of the unauthorised sharing of files containing copyrighted works, this Authority is supposed to implement the idea of a three-strikes riposte system, which was finally promulgated by the Act of October 28, 2009, called the Hadopi II Act, which organises a system of simplified legal proceedings, allowing a single magistrate of a Tribunal correctionnel (a French court dealing with criminal issues, similar to a British Magistrate’s Court) to take action via court order against online copyright infringement on a public communication website. Moreover, the Act provides for a complementary penalty: the suspension of Internet access for a period of up to one year, and a ban on subscribing to another internet provider service during the suspension period.

The Government has yet to publish Decrees relating to the manner in which the automatic email system will function, and which will define the procedure to be followed by the Authority. The Government has announced that Internet Service Providers would alone bear the cost related to the implementation of this Act.