French Court OKs File-Sharing for Personal Use

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 9, 2006 - 3:48am.

Paris - The District Court of Paris has ruled that downloading and uploading content to peer-to-peer file-sharing networks is legal, as long as it is for personal use, The Register reported. The French record label trade group SCPP sued a Frenchman in late 2004 for allegedly offering 1,212 music tracks for download on file-sharing networks. The District Court of Paris found that the acts of downloading and uploading on peer-to-peer networks constituted "private copying." The SCPP is appealing the ruling. Meanwhile, the French Parliament is also weighing a proposal to charge file-swappers a $6 per month voluntary surcharge for accessing peer-to-peer networks.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/08/france_legalises_p2p