Report: French Music Labels Reporting 25,000 Infringements to Copyright Authority Daily

Copyright holders in the French music industry are reporting a staggering 25,000 “music-related” infringements to the country’s top enforcement authority on a daily basis, according to a a music industry trade group director quoted in the trade magazine Billboard.

The number was provided to Billboard by SNEP Director General David El Sayegh.

El Sayegh told Billboard that he would wait until the end of 2011 for a conclusive analysis of whether France’s new online copyright enforcement scheme is working.

France enacted a controversial new law in October 2009 that created a new copyright enforcement regime and a new legal authority called HADOPI to enforce the law.

Under the law, individuals suspected of copyright infringement, who are listed as the contact for the internet protocol addresses through their internet service provider, are sent e-mails and warning letters about the infringement activity by HADOPI. If the activity continues, those internet connections are terminated for anytime between two months and a year.

Billboard notes that all ISPs in France have agreed to abide by the scheme, and that so far HADOPI has not been flooded by panicked calls from the recipients of its notification messages.

Editor’s Note: Don’t miss the Intellectual Property Breakfast Club Event on Tuesday, November 9th, “Approaches by Internet Service Providers Around the World to Copyright Infringement,” for FREE at Clyde’s of Gallery Place in Washington from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Register at http://ipbreakfast.eventbrite.com.