Illegal file-sharing: French court requires Google to cooperate with French music companies

18th July 2012

France's Supreme Court, the Cour de Cassation, has ruled that SNEP, IFPI's national group in France, is entitled to seek an order against Google involving its "auto-complete" function. The judgment, delivered on July 12th, says that removing specific pirate terms from auto-complete would be an appropriate and proportionate measure.

SNEP had sought an order requiring Google to remove piracy terms "torrent", "megaupload" and "rapidshare" from its "auto complete" search results. This was rejected by the lower court and Court of Appeal in 2011. However, the Supreme Court has overturned the Court of Appeal's ruling, considering that Google is contributing to copyright infringements by orientating users to illegal links through its auto complete function.

The case will now be sent back to the Court of Appeal for a final decision.

To see the original SNEP press release please click here.

For further information contact:
Alex Jacob, IFPI London
Email: alex.jacob@ifpi.org
Tel: +44 (0)20 7878 7935 (Press Office)