Fleur Pellerin, Minister of Culture and Communication, presented on Wednesday, March 11, 2015, in the Council of Ministers, the Government’s strategy on the fight against piracy of works on the internet.
Beyond the graduated response, the Government is implementing an action plan against websites for streaming, downloading or referencing that take advantage of pirated works, which includes the following measures:
- The drying up of financing methods for sites specialising in counterfeit works on the Internet. A charter bringing together advertising stakeholders and representatives of rights holders will be signed on 23 March at the Ministry of Culture and Communication. A negotiation will then begin with a view to signing, by next June, a charter with online payment players.
- Recourse to the proceedings for interim measures, time-to-time interim measures, simple requests or joint requests in legal proceedings enabling the effectiveness of measures, particularly blocking measures, against technical intermediaries to be monitored over time. Prosecutors will be reminded of the importance of regional centralization of judicial action and the opportunity to refer to the relevant judges who will be appointed by the end of June in the most complex infringement cases.
Interdepartmental coordination of the activity of all operational services on issues related to piracy of works will be organized. At the Ministry of the Interior, coordination will be the responsibility of the Cybercrime Sub-Directorate. The monitoring of reports on the Pharos platform will also be strengthened.
The Government is also mobilized in the fight against clandestine financial circuits. It will take all the tax consequences out of these activities.
Finally, a reflection on the responsibility of certain video sharing platforms that not only host but also ensure a distribution role or even editorial role of works will be conducted. These reflections should lead to more effective, simple and accessible procedures for reporting illegal content, for withdrawal and monitoring.
The Government will also ensure that, in the European debate on the modernization of copyright, effective solutions to prevent and suppress piracy are defined, involving digital actors.