Filmmaker loses download case
2006-06-22 12:06
Paris - A filmmaker who made one of France's biggest domestic box-office hits, The Choir, on Wednesday lost a court fight against several internet companies he accused of promoting illegal downloading of movies.
Christophe Barratier had alleged that AOL France, Telecom Italia France, Neuf Telecom, Voyages-sncf.com, financial firm Finaref, and the state lottery company La Francaise des Jeux were complicit in the activity by putting illicit download sites on poster ads.
But the Paris court, while recognising that such sites were illegal, refused to convict the companies, saying that Barratier's claims "relied purely on hypotheses".
It added: "No evidence shows their intention to commit the infraction they are accused of."
Several of the companies themselves blamed the presence of the offending sites on their posters on advertising management companies.
Barratier had been seeking a symbolic, rather than financial, court victory to make an "example" of the companies.
His movie The Choir, about a group of boys in a harsh boarding school who are transformed by a teacher who introduces them to singing.
It generated more than 8.5 million ticket sales in France and was nominated for an Oscar last year.