France jurisdiction report: Copyright in the digital age

But the purpose of this directive is also to protect authors’ rights in the digital world and it provides to that respect, rules in order to improve the contractual relationship between authors, performers, producers, publishers and online content-sharing platforms.

Exceptions and limitations

Authors enjoy on their work, by the mere fact of its creation, an exclusive right of IP which is opposable to all. This right includes intellectual and moral attributes as well as patrimonial rights. While authors enjoy significant protection and monopoly, there are limitations and exceptions to these.

These same limitations and exceptions will continue to apply. Content in the public domain or shared prior to the adoption of the Directive, without the permission of the author, will remain so.

Cited as exceptions or limitations are citation, criticism, review and use for purposes of caricature, parody or pastiche (article 17.7).

Article 17.1 of the Directive provides that an online content-sharing service provider performs an act of communication to the public, or an act of making available to the public, when it gives the public access to copyright-protected works or other protected subject matter uploaded by its users.