Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
As soon as I arrived on rue de Valois, I wanted to provide a strong, rapid and effective response to the threats that weigh on creation: rather than pitting artists and Internet users, I wanted to direct our action towards the development of the legal offer and the fight against illicit sites. That is to say, websites for streaming, direct downloading or referencing, which take advantage of pirated content and monetize it without remunerating the creators.
Even before we developed our tools to combat piracy and sanction illegal offers, it was essential that users could find the quality works they wanted to see. Because it is often because they cannot find the film that they are looking for that the users succumb to the sirens of illicit sites.
This has been done since the end of January.
On January 28, we launched a video-on-demand referencing tool, in partnership with industry professionals, to offer Internet users a new public service that allows them to quickly and easily access a cinema whose quality and diversity is ensured by the solidarity of all stakeholders in the sector. New partners have since expressed an interest in enriching our tool, which I am delighted to see.
At the beginning of March, I presented to the Council of Ministers a plan to combat commercial piracy in order to go beyond simply maintaining the graduated response.
This action plan focuses on three main areas: measures to dry up the financial resources of illicit sites; strengthening the coordination of interdepartmental action and the accountability of digital platforms.
Among the measures it includes are:
- the use of interim procedures to monitor the effectiveness of blocking measures over time, in particular
- Mobilisation of the Government in the fight against clandestine financial circuits;
- a reflection on the responsibility of certain platforms to achieve simpler and more effective procedures for reporting, removing and monitoring illegal content.
Today, less than 15 days after the plan was announced, we are gathered to implement the first measure.
This first measure, which is based on the recommendations of the report by Mireille Imbert-Quaretta, aims to dry up the financial resources of illicit sites by first preventing them from getting rich through advertising resources and then by cutting off the use of online means of payment.
Today, I have the great pleasure to welcome all advertising professionals and advertisers to the Ministry of Culture and Communication who affirm by this charter their attachment to intellectual and artistic property and their ambition to promote, alongside all rights holders, support for creation.
You see, things are moving!
In less than 100 days, we have laid the groundwork for creative support that ends systematic opposition between Internet users and creators.
At the beginning of January, I sent Julien Neutres to draft a charter, written in consultation with advertising stakeholders and rights holders. Two months later, we have gathered for the signing of this charter and I want to congratulate all the stakeholders for the quality and speed of your discussions. A big thank you to Julien Neutres who promoted the fluidity of the process, you were many to welcome its action and effectiveness!
I would also like to thank Frédérique Bredin for his unwavering support in the fight against infringements of creators' rights and the promotion of the legal offer, and which allowed Julien Neutres to devote himself to the creation of his two concrete tools: the search engine of video on demand and the charter that will be signed today.
Why a charter?
Because the various advertising professionals and advertisers have the tools to control the distribution of advertising messages and prevent their customers' advertising messages from being published on illicit sites.
They are thus key players in the fight against commercial piracy and the so-called Follow the money to touch the portfolio of offending sites by depriving them of advertising revenues.
Alongside representatives of rights holders from all creative sectors, who have a great knowledge of offending sites,
First of all, I would like to greet all the actors who have mobilized around this charter:
- Advertisers represented by the UDA, media agencies represented by UDECAM, advertising boards represented by the SRI and digital communication players represented by the IAB;
- as well as the signatory rights holders, ALPA, SNE, SELL, SNJV, SACEM, SCPP and SPPF, who undertake to continue their action to raise awareness, educate and prevent illicit activities.
I welcome the responsibility of the advertising sector and advertisers, which is strongly committed to voluntary and solidarity measures and has shown itself to be extremely willing and active in finding very concrete action solutions.
What are these measures?
- on the one hand, the sharing of information between rights holders and professionals in the sector to identify pirate sites and the exchange of good practices from the whole sector to exclude them from their commercial relations;
- on the other hand, the creation of a monitoring committee and joint governance to make the process sustainable and dynamic.
This Charter, which promotes confidence in the digital economy, is also a strong and symbolic gesture for the ecosystem.
By acting in this way on a voluntary basis alongside the public authorities and rights holders, professionals in the sector affirm their commitment to a concerted, partnership-based approach adapted to each individual, which makes it possible to respond to constantly evolving phenomena.
This charter is intended to be systemic: it is by engaging each of the links of online advertising that we will achieve the goal we have set for ourselves.
We can congratulate ourselves on the progress made in less than 100 days, but we are not going to stop in such a good way: I will launch very soon a mission that will lead to a signature by the end of June with online payment professionals, I want us to work on enriching the legal offer of films: today 10,000 films are available online, my ambition is to put in place the means to quickly complete this offer.
We will soon be launching a reflection with the three main platforms to provide us with effective and simple technological tools for the reporting and removal of works.
This year 2015, I wanted to place it under the sign of support for creation, which I made one of my priorities.
As you can see, things have been accelerating since January in the implementation of a concrete and pragmatic strategy to combat piracy and I want to thank you for your mobilization.
Because support for creation is also a European issue, I have been actively campaigning for copyright since the beginning of the year: On 12 January, I brought together the cultural stakeholders to present my ambition for copyright and its modernization in Europe, I also went to Berlin to carry the same message, then to Brussels where I presented France’s position to the European Parliament, before the intergroup on cultural and creative industries. This week, on the sidelines of the Franco-German High Cultural Council and the Book Fair, I strongly recalled our position in the service of creation.
Since January, I have taken many positions to make France’s voice heard in Europe, on copyright but also on the reduced VAT rate for e-books. The mobilization of our European partners alongside us shows that this is not a chauvinistic position. France does not jealously defend its artists, it does not seek preferential treatment for its industry but it fights so that all artists can create and that France, Like Europe, they remain the lands of creation that they have always prided themselves on being.
For the digital transition to be an opportunity for our creators and authors, we must all collectively seize. The promotion of the legal offer and the defense of copyright must progress together.
So, with Julien Neutres, I will now invite the signatories, whom I thank once again warmly, to sign the charter of good practices for online advertising.
Thank you.