French Intellectual Property Code

I.-It is punishable by a fine of €3,750 to knowingly delete or modify, for purposes other than research, any item of information referred to in article L. 331-11, by personal intervention not requiring the use of an existing technological application, device or component, designed or specially adapted for this purpose, with the aim of infringing a copyright, concealing or facilitating such infringement. II.-It is punishable by six months’ imprisonment and…

Any fixation, reproduction, communication or making available to the public, whether in return for payment or free of charge, or any television broadcast of a performance, a phonogram, a videogram, a programme or a press publication, made without the authorisation, where required, of the performer, the phonogram or videogram producer, the audiovisual communication company, the press publisher or the press agency. The same penalties shall apply to the import, export,…

I.-It is punishable by a fine of €3,750 to knowingly undermine, for purposes other than research, an effective technological measure as defined in article L. 331-5, in order to alter the protection of a performance, phonogram, videogram, programme or press publication by decoding, decrypting or any other personal intervention intended to circumvent, neutralise or remove a protection or control mechanism, when this infringement is carried out by means other than…

I.-It is punishable by a fine of €3,750 to knowingly delete or modify, for purposes other than research, any item of information referred to in article L. 331-11, through personal intervention that does not require the use of a technological application, device or existing component, designed or specially adapted for this purpose, with the aim of infringing a right related to copyright, or of concealing or facilitating such infringement. II.It…

In the event of a conviction based on one of the offences defined in articles L. 335-2 to L. 335-4-2, the court may order the total or partial, permanent or temporary closure, for a maximum period of five years, of the establishment used to commit the offence. Temporary closure may not result in the termination or suspension of the employment contract, or in any financial prejudice to the employees concerned….

Natural persons guilty of one of the offences provided for in articles L. 335-2 to L. 335-4-2 may also be ordered, at their own expense, to remove from commercial channels the objects deemed to be infringing and any thing that has served or was intended to commit the infringement. The court may order the confiscation of all or part of the revenue generated by the infringement as well as that…

When the offence is committed by means of an online public communication service, persons guilty of the offences provided for in articles L. 335-2, L. 335-3 and L. 335-4 may also be sentenced to the additional penalty of suspension of access to an online public communication service for a maximum period of one year, together with a ban on signing another contract for a service of the same nature with…

For the fifth-class offences provided for in this code, where the regulations so provide, the additional penalty defined in Article L. 335-7 may be imposed in the same way, in the event of gross negligence, on the holder of access to an online public communication service to which the Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique, pursuant to Article L. 331-19, has previously sent, by means of a…

To impose the suspension provided for in articles L. 335-7 and L. 335-7-1 and determine the length of the sentence, the court shall take into account the circumstances and seriousness of the offence, as well as the personality of the offender, and in particular the offender’s professional or social activity and socio-economic situation. The length of the sentence must reconcile the protection of intellectual property rights with respect for the…

Corporate entities held criminally liable, under the conditions set out in’article 121-2 du code pénal, the offences defined in articles L. 335-2 to L. 335-4-2 are liable, in addition to a fine in accordance with the terms of the’article 131-38 of the Penal Code, the penalties provided for by article 131-39 of the same code. The prohibition mentioned in 2° of article 131-39 of the same code relates to the…