France's Three Strikes Enforcement Agency... Pirated A Font For Its Logo
from the oooops dept
We've been highlighting how Nicolas Sarkozy -- who was the original strong supporter of "three strikes" proposals to kick people off the internet based on accusations (not convictions) -- and his political party have been caught time and time again infringing on the copyright of others. It looks like that's happening again in an even more embarrassing fashion. The organization that's been designated to deal with three strikes in France, Hadopi, unveiled a new logo... that used an unlicensed font, that had been created by France Telecom and had not been licensed for use by anyone else. Hadopi had to scramble and try to find a new font once called on this, and issued an "apology," but will it allow those accused of infringement online the right to "apologize" as well?These may seem like minor issues, but they're actually quite instructive. The point is that due to the way copyright law is set up, people infringe unintentionally all the time. Even the biggest defenders of copyright do so. And that is the problem with any sort of system that punishes people for something as minor as three infringements -- and it's even worse when its three accusations of infringement, rather than actual convictions. It creates a massive liability for the way everyone -- even copyright defenders -- do things every day. But, of course, the big powerful folks -- the ones who passed and support this law -- can just apologize and ignore the consequences. Everyone else? Good luck.
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Filed Under: copyright, fonts, france, hadopi, hypocracy, three strikes
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Ha!
A couple more goofs like that and they won't be allowed onto the internet their supposed to be policing, which should be fun.
It'd be wierd to be sititng in a hotel room with the leaders of Hadopi andLily Allen, suggest that we all get pizza, and have no one be able to use a quick google search on their laptops or smart phones because of their own idiotic rules....
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Re: Ha!
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Don't you get it?
Now excuse me, I have some slashfic to write. It might be worth turning into a fanfilm. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Re: Don't you get it?
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First Strike for Hadopi
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One rule for them, another for us...
Hypocrisy knows no bounds, after all.
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Only strike 1
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Re:
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=)
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Sarkozy's behaviour certainly provides some compelling evidence for this idea.
Intellectual Property Laws + Digital Technology = Epic Fail.
It's nearly impossible to use digital media and not violate several intellectual property laws. More restrictive laws will only make these problems worse, not better.
Fanaticism breeds fanaticism. A movement for copyright expansion leads to movements for copyright abolition, and the kind of hypocrisy we are seeing coming from people like Sarkozy makes it easier for the abolitionists to take the moral high ground.
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Please Mr. Sarkozy, give us strike 3. We really need to
see you, the great bastion of moral outrage, weasel your way out. It'll be so much fun.
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How long will he be on the net
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hahaha
Hahahaha good one! No, it wont be rolling or time-frame, it will be EVER. 3 strikes (aka mere accusation) EVER, and you are cut off. Possibly, you could go to another ISP, and start over there, but I wouldnt count on THAT lasting either. Soon it will be 3 strikes and you can never have an internet connection ever again. This is the goal of Big Media. They DO NOT want you to have access to anything THEY dont provide TO you for a FEE. Anything less, and they will lobby and buy politicians as much as they can to stop.
This is the world we now live in.
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Legal Staff (heehee!)
This is why there should be exemptions for non-commercial infringement, along with very defined rules for what "non-commercial" means.
I'm such a dreamer.
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Essentially, they are victims of fraud, not copyright infringers. They are not different from someone telling them the car they just bought was actually stolen. They aren't the thieves, just another victim.
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First, the title is misleading, because they didn't pirate a font. The firm they used to make the logo used a font they don't have the rights for, but hadopi or whatever their name is didn't pirate a font. Very misleading, to say they pirated something is extremely misleading.
Second, and just as important, the font they used wasn't EXACTLY the font in question (called bienvenue, or welcome), as the letters were not exactly the same, but close enough to be recognized. It gives more credence to the idea of a font from a free font site or something similar.
It would be much more helpful if you can read french, as the story in french is significantly different from the rather slanted "ding" post from torrent freak. By taking their bias and adding your own onto it Mike, you make it sound like the Hadopi people hacked into someone computer to steal something, which just isn't the case.
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Do you think if a normal person posted a copyrighted item on their own website, since someone told them it was in the public domain, they would get a pass?
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I suspect that if I "pirated" some music and changed a few notes you would have no problem going off on one of your uninformed rants about how I'm an evil immoral pirate thief destroying the music industry.
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I'm not sure how this even helps your argument at all. The relevant industries (such as music) have voiced their displeasure strongly at deriative works from supposed property they own the rights to. For them as long as something is "close enough to be recognised" it qualifies as infringement.
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Re: Re: TAM Fails Again
en fait, l'article d'origine au pub numerama.com est fidelement decrit par les mecs chez torrentfreak. l'agence creatif est reduit a se defender avec une admission de "erreur de manipulation".
ce que veut dire, that the articles, even in english, are accurately describing the hypocrisy and arrogance of an elite class.
nice try bud.....
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Here we have the exact same situation and you're now suggesting that the hadopi site be relieved of responsibility and viewed as a victim for putting up something they weren't aware was an IP violation.
So how come in the world of Anti-Mike, YouTube has a due diligence responsibility but hadopi does not?
You could just be refreshingly honest in your answer (if you even bother to give one) and admit that the double-standard stems from the fact that you're perversely compelled to argue against whatever Mike's position happens to be at any given moment, regardless of whether it turns your various responses, taken as a whole, into a hellish contradictory mess.
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Sigh, do you have even one iota of evidence to back up that scenario as truth? I'm definitely willing to listen, as Mike has made mistakes in the past by not digging deeper, but somehow I doubt it on this one....
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It's a fail, but certainly Hadopi didn't pirate anything themselves.
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They had to sign off on the proof of the design. The legal team should have caught it.
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So they are responsible even if they were not directly responsible is that what they fought for and passed for a law.
Now that is ironic.
Want to see more irony?
How about artists that don't want to pay ISPs for the privilege to put their content on the internet and are all grouping together to lobby for net neutrality :)
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/01/rem-everybody-hurts-without-network-neutrality .ars
Probably because they saw the research that said it would switch wealth to the ISPs instead of content creators LoL
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/01/new-study-no-net-neutrality-means-weaker-inte rnet-economy.ars
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Now if they find someone else "accidentally" infringed, does that person get a pass on the strike?
Keep this in mind: Although you are probably correct that they did not have knowledge of this infringement, there is likely no proof of that. Because who could document something like "we don't know that we cannot use this font"? So, we have to take their word that they did not know and were ignorant that they needed to research it. If that can be a defense, can't anyone just say "I didn't know?"
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Pray tell how this is not the same scenario as an infringing YouTube upload.
You're view is so black and white that I cannot understand how you don't see HADOPI as guilty, yet somehow Google is.
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Question:
You know, I've been wondering, given the whole baseball analogy, if this three strikes based on accusations as opposed to convictions can't be applied to the Cubs to help them win the world series. I see it going something like this:
Announcer: It's a lovely day here at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs enter Game 7 tied with the Yankees in the World Series, presented by Sound Exchange. Let's go the action on the field.
Umpire: Play Ball!
Carlos Zambrano: Okay, Jeter is out!
Umpire: What do you mean? You haven't thrown the ball!
Zambrano: No, he swung. I saw him do it!
Jeter: I didn't swing! You haven't thrown the ball!
Zambrano: No, you swung, I saw it. In fact, you swung three times!
Jeter: I did not! Hey, this isn't fair!
Zambrano: Can you prove you DIDN'T swing at my non-existent pitches?
Jeter: What!!!?? How the hell could I do that? That doesn't make any sense!
Umpire: YOU'RE OUT!!!!
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TAM the amazing TAMHOLE
First, the title "pirate" is misleading. People dont "pirate" they infringe copyright. No one is deprived of property as in true piracy. Very misleading, to call people "pirates" when its not, is a CIVIL, not criminal, infraction, and is infringement, not theft.
"Second, and just as important, the font they used wasn't EXACTLY the font in question (called bienvenue, or welcome), as the letters were not exactly the same, but close enough to be recognized. It gives more credence to the idea of a font from a free font site or something similar."
People dont "pirate" music. The files they use arent EXACTLY the music in question (due to being compressed and having 30-60% of the data being discarded due to one sound masking another, and using psycho-acoustic modelling) , but close enough to be recognized.
Really, you are off the plot now. You are grasping at ANYTHING that will exonerate your Corporate masters and vilify everyone else (ie, the consumer). You are stretching so far in your twisted, tortured attempt at rationalizing behavior on one side (your Corporate overlords) that you sound completely ridiculous. And when you are called out on it, you dont argue the merits or points at all, you are either silent or you build straw-mans or attack the poster.
Pathetic weasel.
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Re: TAM the amazing TAMHOLE
Too bad your post just doesn't have any relevance, except a pretty pathetic attempt to twist words into your favor.
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The French are Out
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The People.
When even the government that have much more resources can't keep their own act clean, individuals have no chance of doing any better.
Copyright is for everything on the internet and this could lead to a lot of people being disconected not only for music but for realy anything from text to videos.
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That’s one huge embarrassing first strike for you, Hadopi.
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Re:
I think the problem with a rating system is it runs the risk of being used to silence dissenters rather than promoting intelligent discourse. The comments currently on here are a whole world away from those on youtube anyway.
PS. LOLFAG!!!!
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All these loophole closures
It is scary like a horror story, which makes me hope that the claims about the legislation made in the comment are exaggerated.
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Lessons learned & Teaching the hard way
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Eye
That logo is spying on people with it's large eye.
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outrageous
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Three Strikes?
More on this available: http://www.themusicvoid.com/2010/07/three-strikes-and-youre-out-but-then-again-maybe-not/
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