Operator French Lyric Site Gets Fine and Risks Jail Time

Remember the days you had to spin your record ten times to write out the indistinguishable lyrics of your favorite artist, because all his psychedelic artwork did not leave any room for song texts on the sleeve? That old game may be back...in France. The criminal court of Nanterre has sentenced the operator of a song lyrics website to a 20,000 euro fine and six months imprisonment on probation. Additionally the operator has to pay damages to the plaintiffs: the music association of publishers CSDEM and three publishing houses. Apparently the site, miditext.net, had mirrored the site miditext.com, which was shut down in may 2002 over copyright infringement charges.

Back in April I reported on cease and desist notices sent to German song lyrics sites. A website that resisted such notice did take its song texts offline after a German court ruled that the copyrightholders had case. That rightholders have a case is no surprise. That they actually make a case out of their copyright keeps surprising me somewhat. But then, maybe they just want to give the digital generation they joy of penning down their favourite chansons in the candle light of a cheese & wine diner. I'm not sure what they are: nostalgic or romantic. Maybe just not from this time...

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Thru Institut fur Urheber- und Medienrecht [German]
CSDEM press release [PDF, French]