REGISTRATION DOCUMENT AND FINANCIAL REPORT - Iliad

6. OVERVIEW OF THE GROUP’S BUSINESS
6.6 REGULATORY SITUATION
Intellectual property law and online broadcasting
The purpose of Directive 2001/29/EC of May 22, 2001 on “the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and
related rights in the information society” is to adapt intellectual property law to the specifics of digital
broadcasting. This Directive sets down an exclusive right of reproduction as well as a mandatory exemption from
this right relating to certain temporary acts of reproduction that are an essential part of a technological process.
However it has not achieved its primary stated objective of harmonization, as Member States can choose whether
or not to adopt other optional exceptions, such as the exception for reproduction of material for private use,
provided that the right-holders receive fair compensation.
Law 2006-961 of August 1, 2006 (the DADVSI Law) concerning copyrights and other related rights in the
information society transposed Directive 2001/29/EC into French law. The DADVSI Law sets limitations on the
right to reproduce material for private use by recognizing the legality of digital rights management (DRM)
systems. In particular it provides for criminal sanctions for parties who publish software that is clearly intended
to render protected works public as well as parties who procure or knowingly offer to another party – either
directly or indirectly – the means to violate DRM systems.
On November 23, 2007 a Commission headed by Denis Olivennes submitted a report on the distribution and
protection of cultural works over electronic communications networks to the French Minister of Culture. The
report recommends a number of principles based primarily on establishing a warning system and a variety of
penalties for customers unlawfully downloading or divulging cultural works. Legislative modifications are
expected to be introduced in 2008 in response to the recommendations of the Olivennes report.
Domain names
Domain names are assigned to the digital addresses of the servers connected to the Internet and constitute
Internet addresses. They are used for effective identification of Internet sites and make it easier to remember the
addresses of these sites. Domain names are therefore, logically, major marketing assets for companies carrying
out all or part of their business on the Internet. The Group has registered a certain number of domain names in
France.
Top level domain names can be generic (known as generic top level domain names, or “gTLDs”), such as “.com”
for commercial companies, “.net” for companies providing Internet-related services, “.org” for public interest
bodies or “.edu” for teaching establishments, or they can correspond to a specific geographical area (known as
country code top level domain names, or “ccTLDs”), such as “.fr” for France, “.de” for Germany or “.es” for
Spain. Second level domain names correspond to subcategories, for example “.asso.fr” for charities in France.
The domain names in the “.com”, “.net” and “.org” domains are registered by a certain number of organizations
accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”), an international
not-for-profit organization. Various registrars are responsible for managing extensions, such as Verisign in the
case of the “.com” and “.net” extensions. The registration of geographical domain names is supervised in each
country by a designated national authority, which keeps a central register and accredits private companies as
registrars. In general, domain names are allocated on a “first-come, first-served” basis and most registrars, in the
case of both generic and geographical domain names, consider that it is up to the person registering them to
ensure that no prior right would be infringed by the registration of the domain name concerned.
Each national authority is, to a certain extent, able to define its own policy for allocating domain names. This
means that the requirements for registering geographical domain names can differ from those relating to the
registration of generic domain names and can also vary from one country to another. Some registrars may, for
instance, prove to be stricter than others with respect to infringements of the intellectual or other property rights
held by third parties resulting from the registration of a particular domain name.
In France, the Association Française pour le Nommage Internet en Coopération (“AFNIC”) is responsible for
registering domain names for the “.fr” extension. A certain number of subdomains have been created in the “.fr”
extension and several Internet service providers, including Online, a subsidiary of Iliad, have been accredited by
the AFNIC to handle requests for the registration of domain names.
58 - Iliad – Registration Document 2007