French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been caught violating his own copyright law again. This time, presidential services made 400 unauthorized copies of a documentary about the French president called “A visage decouvert: Nicolas Sarkozy”, when only 50 had been made by the publisher. Mr Sarkozy is the one pushing the HADOPI law, which would disconnect the Internet service of an alleged pirate after three allegations of infringement.

The French satirical investigative journalism weekly “Le Canard Enchaîné” reveals “that our holier-than-thou presidency is in fact a pirate’s lair. In a stunning display of hypocrisy, the presidential audiovisual services produced 400 unauthorized copies of the 52 minutes documentary “A visage découvert : Nicolas Sarkozy”…

It is even more appalling that we are dealing with repeat offenders : last spring, while the Hadopi law was discussed, U.S. music duo MGMT received €30,000 as a settlement for a copyright infringement by French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party who used one of its songs at a political rally without permission. Those who led the charge against Internet users are not the most respectful of copyright.”

Only the French could have put it so eloquently, but once again, this is one of those moments to point out to supporters of such HADOPI laws or fining internet users into bankruptcy is that the issue isn’t quite so simple after all.

Related posts:

1. Aussie wins internet villan at UK Industry Awards