Copy protected CDs illegal in France?
Written by Zanderico on September 13, 2003 to Music Business.
NANTERRE - 
Unfortunately not. EMI is not allowed to release defective CDs, a French court decided. But EMI wasn’t forbidden to release copy protected CDs per se.
Last week’s ruling is a victory for UFC. A French consumer rights organization, which has been protesting against copy protected CDs for years now, because copy protected discs won’t play in a lot of car stereos, computers and portable players.
Furthermore, UFC says the record companies only release copy protected discs in Europe, because in the US they’re afraid of getting sued. But now it seems they are no longer safe in Europe either.
The case was set up around a release of EMI France, the new CD of French singer Alain Souchon, according to press agency AFP. The judge ruled in favor of UFC. EMI is obligated to compensate the buyers of the CD. This means that EMI must refund customers who have bought CDs they can’t play, or provide them with a full-working copy.
On the other hand, a consumer who reported EMI Australia to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) for the same thing, got turned down.
Other articles with the same topic
- Billboard mentions Roxette (February 26, 2011)
- Citigroup takes control of EMI (February 1, 2011)
- Kobalt signs Roxette in North America (January 13, 2011)
- Record "The Look" and win $5,000 shopping spree (August 11, 2010)
- EMI Music triples full-year earnings (May 8, 2009)
18 comments
Jud (moderator) said on September 13, 2003 23:25:
in Spain they wanna demand the record companies because they break the copyright law (not sure if this applies only to Spain :S): the person who buys the CD is entitled to make a *personal* copy, just as you could record an LP into a tape to play on your car, or make a copy of an MC not to “scratch” the band... and with such copy protection it’s not possible.. so they say that the user/buyer/consumer can’t use this right anymore :S
Sascha said on September 14, 2003 10:21:
You can make an analog copy from every CD, just like from LP, radio and so on. Just plug a recorder into the line-out! The possibility to make identical digital copies with no loss is just a few years old. I’m a consumer myself, but understand the reasons for theindustry.
Jud (moderator) said on September 14, 2003 12:49:
well there are ppl who do NOT have Hi-fi but use their PC as hi-fi, so if I was one of them I would be pissed to buy a CD that does not work or from which i cannot make mp3s to play PERSONALLY on my PC without having to have the cd running on the cd-rom, so.. what choice do you have then? either you buy a hi-fi or you download the songs ;)
Rich-UK said on September 14, 2003 13:16:
Yeah, Mazarin won’t play on my PC, which makes it a sub-standard product for the same cost :-(
(btw, such articles could be better raised in off-topic, imo)
Rich-UK said on September 14, 2003 20:11:
I know that :-) But it may be nicer for new visitors if the main news item on the screen was about something more closely related to Roxette. Just a little bit of feedback, that’s all, feel free to ignore it.
tevensso (moderator) said on September 16, 2003 06:50:
So then it’s correct to say the discs can’t be played in a Walkman, no?
Seriously though, the original English article uses “Walkman” as the term, then we felt it was OK to continue using it.
CanadianRoxboy said on January 15, 2004 14:50:
The article says that copy protected CDs are only being released in Europe. I’m a Canadian Fan and Pop Hits and Ballad Hits were both released copy protected in Canada. I understand why the record companies would want to release a CD that can’t be copied but I’ve noticed the technology used for the copy protection is depleting the quality of the digital music. Isn’t the reason cds were invented was so that we, the consumer, could have a clearer music format?
I disagree that the companies should even get to defend themselves. If more royalty money went to the artists instead of the record company president the artists would have no reason to complain about copyright infringement.
CDNRXBY - Jon
PS. To “Anonymous” who said “YOU CANT PALY CDS IN A WALKMAN, THE CORRECT WORD IS DISCMAN!!! COME ON, AS TECHONOLOGY GROWS WE NEED TO GET USED TO THE NEW TERMS!” I urge you to do your homework and take a look at ANY Sony portable audio equipment. The trademark name is WALKMAN! If you don’t believe me Mr. Anonymous...
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY...
CDNRXBY - Jon
LittleSpooky said on September 13, 2003 14:49:
Interesting.