French Minister Greets Grokster Decision

Grokster has crossed the Atlantic and hit the shores of France. The French Minister of Culture and Communication, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, came with an official reaction to the decision yesterday [French - (rough translation mine]:

Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Minister of Culture and Communications, thinks that the decision of the Supreme Court establishing responsibility for the owners of software that allows the illicit exchanges of files (peer to peer: "poste à poste") is likely to move the debate in France forward.

He hopes that this decision can contribute to aid the deliberation of all the actors involved.

He notes with interest that it constitutes a useful and important stage in the fight against illegal file-sharing and contributes to the emergence of a protected legal offer, which is in constant progression.

In this perspective and in the wake of the parliamentary debate on the [draft] bill on copyright in the information society, which will be examined at re-entry, the Minister of Culture and Communication has asked his staff for a legal evaluation of the American decision.

I doubt that the French Minister has actually read the decision, but apparently his staff will. That is probably the most interesting part of his rather flat reaction: the American decision is not just deemed a useful guide for the national debate (in which the Minister chooses sides), but also for the deliberations on the regulatory changes in the French copyright law. It is not stated, but suggested that MGM v. Grokster may be used as a source, or even inspiration in the parlimentary debate on copyright reform as part of the implementation of the European Copyright Directive. Has the European echo started?

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Thru WeBlogs P2P & NTIC