The Société civile des producteurs de phonogrammes en France (SPPF) brought suit before the Paris tribunal de grande instance (superior court) against YouTube. SPPF seeks 10 million euros in damages. for alleged copyright infringement by YouTube.

SPPF is a collecting society. It has about 1,300 members, all French independents. In 2008, it collected € 14.53 million euros, up from € 12.67 million in 2007, a one-year increase of about 15%.

SPPF contends that more than 100 music videos by its members were available on YouTube in 2009, after having been removed from that site at SPF’s request in 2008. SPPF seems to have crafted its complaint to follow prior cases finding sites negligent for failing to remove content after request by a right-holder representative. I’m puzzled by the factual circumstances here, because YouTube has a system in place to avoid precisely this problem.

More generally, I’m puzzled because music videos are essentially promotional. Broadcasters pay royalties when they air videos, and there exists a limited consumer market for them. But they remain a promotional tool. Do SPPF members really not want promotion via YouTube and other sites?