The Artful Jurist

No doubt, when the French government enacted legislation in September to crack down on Internet piracy, many owners of high profile intellectual property must have cried, "Vive la France!"  But, according to a New York Times article, that crackdown hasn't exactly been a juggernaut.  In fact, according to the article, since the law went into effect, it hasn't been used to shut down even a single Internet pirate.  Not even a warning has been issued.

The idea behind the law was that people who engaged in illegal Internet file sharing of copyright protected works would have their Internet access cut off if they ignored two warnings to stop the piracy.  In other words, it's a three-strikes-your-out approach.  At least, if it were an American plan, it'd be "three strikes."  In France, where they don't play baseball, that analogy might fall as flat as a crepe.

But, anyway, it won't really matter what analogy they use if they don't even issue any warnings.  The way it's currently going, they're not even going to get to first base.

Gee, that's another baseball analogy, isn't it?...Hmmm.  Maybe what France needs to do first is learn something about baseball.