As Sarkozy Pushes Three Strikes, He Pays Up For His Own Copyright Violations

from the funny-how-that-works dept

Tue, Apr 28th 2009 1:13pm — Mike Masnick

We found it rather ironic that, just as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was so adamant about passing a three strikes law to kick file sharers off the internet, he was being accused of copyright infringement himself, specifically for using music from the US band MGMT at an event and in two online videos without securing a license. Now, you might hope that this would cause Sarkozy to rethink his stance on copyright infringement. Instead, it looks like his political party has simply agreed to pay up and make the issue go away, while still pushing for the three strikes law. It sounds like they paid about 30,000 euros, which is a lot more than the single euro that Sarkozy's party initially offered (yes, seriously). No word on whether or not this counts towards the number of strikes on Sarkozy's internet connection.

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Filed Under: copyright, france, mgmt, nicolas sarkozy

20 Comments

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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 28 Apr 2009 @ 1:15pm

Well of course
If you have 30,000 euros, you can continue to use the internet.

Why is this a problem?
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Tgeigs, 28 Apr 2009 @ 1:39pm

Uh...
"Instead, it looks like his political party has simply agreed to pay up and make the issue go away"

The French surrender? No way!!!

The 3 shortest books ever written:

1. The Irish Cookbook
2. The Polish book of knowledge
3. The French book of war heroes
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- Cipher-0, 28 Apr 2009 @ 2:09pm
  
  Re: Uh...
  You neglected:
  1. Hispanics I have met while yachting
  2. native Esperanto speakers
  And of course
  3. My plan to find the real killers by O J Simpson
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  - Tgeigs, 28 Apr 2009 @ 2:29pm
    
    Re: Re: Uh...
    I said top 3, not top 6. But some others that might make the list:
    
    "How to reach across the aisle" by Dick Cheney
    
    "Keeping a level head" by Joe Biden
    
    "Winning instead of making excuses" a compilation brought to you by the Chicago Cubs
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- Ryan, 28 Apr 2009 @ 2:36pm
  
  Re: Uh...
  Also...
  
  The Lobbying Victories of NAMBLA
  The Big Book of Susan Boyle's Sexual Conquests
  Economics For Dummies (by Nicolas Sarkozy)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Tgeigs, 28 Apr 2009 @ 2:38pm
    
    Re: Re: Uh...
    How about "Hard, Ethical Work" by Barry Bonds
    
    or "100 ways to act macho" by Michael Jackson
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    - ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 28 Apr 2009 @ 3:29pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Uh...
      Don't forget:
      
      The French Book of Political Ethics
      The Australian Book of Political Ethics
      The American Book of Political Ethics
      The Canadian Book of Political Ethics
      The English (and subject populations who pretend to have some kind of autonomy) Book of Political Ethics
      
      I'm waiting on my review copy of the Taiwanese version
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Ima Fish, 28 Apr 2009 @ 1:42pm

30,000 euros?! MGMT must be the lamest band ever. I'd have demanded three hours alone with Alizee!
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RD, 28 Apr 2009 @ 3:05pm

Easy
"No word on whether or not this counts towards the number of strikes on Sarkozy's internet connection."

Oh this is an easy one: He's a rich, powerful politician. OF COURSE the law doesnt apply to him, or at the least will never be enforced against him. Laws are only for little people.
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- Anonymous, 29 Apr 2009 @ 4:36am
  
  Re: Easy
  Here! Here!
  
  Let them eat cake!
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Demon One, 28 Apr 2009 @ 3:20pm

3 Strikes
He infringed at one event and in two separate videos. Doesn't that make three there? Cut off that internet connection now.
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- Anonymous Coward, 28 Apr 2009 @ 6:05pm
  
  Re: 3 Strikes
  Not quite. The event was offline infringement, so it doesn't count unless he acquired the song online. The videos, though, put him at two strikes.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Apr 2009 @ 4:48pm

But you all are forgetting the most important ones!
-The American Guide To Parenting
-The American Guide To Loosing Weight
-The Recording Industries Answer To Life's Problems
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- Lol@yourSpellz (profile), 28 Apr 2009 @ 6:14pm
  
  Re:
  "The Anonymous Coward's Guide to Using the word 'Loose'"
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Baloney Joe, 28 Apr 2009 @ 4:50pm

My all time favorite:

Blog Commentary That Changed The World.
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Tgeigs, 28 Apr 2009 @ 4:59pm

Yeah
My sincerest apologies for the whole book thing, but it was fun.
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Dan, 29 Apr 2009 @ 1:12am

At least he paid the bill unlike american politicians.
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nasch, 29 Apr 2009 @ 10:02am

Most overused department ever
What percentage of TD stories come from the "Funny how that works" department, I wonder.
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John, 6 Jul 2009 @ 4:25pm

30k
For 30k I could probably buy every song (DRM free) I ever wanted. Idiot.
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PrometheeFeu (profile), 7 Jul 2009 @ 12:58pm

To be fair, a symbolic euro in damages is a common penalty in the french court system...
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