GOOGLE FINED FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OF THE FILM « THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BUSH » DIRECTED BY WILLIAM KAREL.

GOOGLE FINED FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OF THE FILM « THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BUSH » DIRECTED BY WILLIAM KAREL.

20 February 2008 12:00 AM By InRevue de presse

The Paris Commercial Court declared, by a verdict handed down on February 20, 2008 that the firm GOOGLE, by allowing the film « The World According To Bush » directed by William Karel to appear on its site, without the permission of its rightful owners, and after being notified of this, had committed an act of copyright infringement.

The firm GOOGLE was ordered to:

  • pay 150 000 Euros in damages to the firms FLACH FILM (Producer of the film) and EDITIONS MONTPARNASSE (its video and video-on-demand distributor),
  • a Fine of 1 500 Euros for each subsequent breach, if the film is ever put on line again on GOOGLE or any other site controlled by GOOGLE,
  • the publication of this judgment on the Homepage of the site GOOGLE VIDEO FRANCE,
  • to pay 1 000 Euros in damages to the two producers’ unions APC and USPA who were co-plaintiffs in the suit,
  • the judgment being immediately enforceable.

To review the facts: since 2006, GOOGLE, via its site GOOGLE VIDEO FRANCE, made the totality of the film available free of charge, despite the complaints of the firms FLACH FILM (represented by Attorney Olivier CHATEL) and EDITIONS MONTPARNASSE, thereby breaching the Code for the Protection of Intellectual Property in relation to authors’ rights and other related rights. The film could be accessed by streaming or downloading, and according to GOOGLE itself, had already been viewed a great many times over a very short period.

FLACH FILM wishes to point out that legal offers of films over the internet, that are vitally important to the industry, cannot be developed unless copyright infringements such as this one are firmly punished.

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