Earlier this year, the French Assemblée Nationale produced a draft law that would have required Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to implement graduated response systems for subscribers found to be downloading copyright-protected materials over the Internet. Subscribers infringing copyrighted works would be sent a series of warnings that, if persistently ignored, would culminate in the termination of their account with the ISP. In June, the French Constitutional Council sent the draft of this law (known as the "HADOPI" law) back to the legislators, ruling that the law would have disconnected French Internet users without sufficient judicial oversight.
Earlier this fall, the Assemblée Nationale produced a revised draft of the law, known as HADOPI 2. Under the revised law, ISPs are now required to obtain judicial consent through an expedited process before disabling Internet access to repeated copyright infringers. The French Constitutional Council recently assented to this version of the law and the first warning notices are expected to be sent in early 2010.
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