Piracy is a generic term that refers to the fixation,
reproduction or provision (especially by the sale
or on the Internet) of illegal sound recordings, i.e.
made without the authorization of the producer or
the performers.
Piracy is a parasitical activity; it is the theft of
someone else's property and is a crime punishable by
law. It deprives authors, performers and producers of
the revenues essential to their activity. It does serious
harm to musical creation and the development of new
artists.
SCPP is authorized by its associates to take legal
action in order to put an end to any infringement of
the producers' rights set out in Article L335-4 of the
Intellectual Property Code. This article provides for
any fixation, reproduction, transmission or provision
to the public of a sound recording or music video
without the producer's permission, against payment or
free of charge, to be punishable by a three-year prison
sentence or a fine of €300,000. The same penalties
apply to any importing or exporting of counterfeit
sound recordings or music videos.
Resources :
- An anti-piracy office which coordinates
prevention actions, the preparation of cases
and repression.
- A team of sworn agents that record
infringements and facilitate legal actions. The
team's work is performed in close collaboration
with SACEM/SDRM and IFPI and also with
units of the French Gendarmerie, the police
and customs.
- The anti-piracy office is assisted by internal and
external legal counsels in the implementation
of prosecution procedures.
Actions of the anti-piracy office :
- Combating Internet piracy
The mechanism includes investigations conducted by SCPP's Anti-Piracy Office
that seek to identify pirate servers and websites, in addition to prevention and repression actions, and
collaborations with the IFPI and the other anti-piracy bodies (SACEM/SDRM, ALPA).
In the framework of the "Creation and Internet" (Création et Internet) Act,
SCPP transmits daily reports to HADOPI on the illegal provision of sound recordings and music videos
carried out via P2P exchange systems, which are drawn up by sworn agents.
- Raising the awareness of members of the magistrature, police and customs with regard to
new piracy techniques and keeping them informed of the negative consequences of the phenomenon.
- Combating traditional piracy (bootlegs, partial copies, whole copies and copies on CD-R)
For this form of piracy, SCPP can rely on a solid record of judicial precedents and exemplary results:
one of the world's lowest piracy rates and many convictions of pirates.
