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CD Buyers In France Sue Over Copy Protection

Legal Issues

from the deception-over-quality dept

Thu, Aug 26th 2004 6:07am — Mike Masnick
A group of individual CD buyers in France, combined with a French consumer association, have filed a lawsuit against EMI and a record store for selling copy protected CDs, suggesting there has been "deception over the material qualities of a product," since many copy protected CDs don't work well in car stereos or on computers. The record store in question claims they clearly warn consumers of the possibility and offer to refund money if the CDs don't work. As backwards as the policy of copy protection on CDs is (punishing your legitimate buyers, while doing little to stop actual copying) this case seems fairly weak. While the recording industry is obviously a huge fan of lawsuits, suing them back isn't the answer. Making them realize that copy protection is bad for their business is the only way the industry is going to change.
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  1. identicon
    Steve, 26 Aug 2004 @ 1:18pm

    No Subject Given

    Of course, if you stop buying CDs because of copy protection, the RIAA will turn right around and blame it on filesharing.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    hanzie, 27 Aug 2004 @ 1:43am

    Dèjà vu...

    The link to the story doesn't seem to be working anymore, but I distinctly recall seeing an identical case in France last year.

    In this case, the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre decided in September 2003 that the unannounced use of a copy protection system which made playback on certain CD players impossible constituted a hidden flaw in the CD. If I recall correctly, EMI France was ordered to refund the price of the CD.

    Sure this is a new story?

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Avar, 27 Aug 2004 @ 4:08am

    Re: Dèjà vu...

    You're right, there actually have been a few cases on this, in France and Belgium. Some of the French cases are mentioned in a blog posting, see the URL above. It provides a link to the cases.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]


Optus, Vodafone Decide To Copy Telstra, Hutchison
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