Publishing, the Rules of the Trade

White Paper  - Justice et édition: plea for laws adapted to publishing

Syndicat national de l'édition, Syndicat national de l'édition, original edition, 2003, Coll. Bfm - Limoges

Since the mid-nineties, legal cases have potentially endangered publishers who may be condemned to pay heavy fines, support unreasonable interim decisions and seizures or simply an abundance of lawsuits. The SNE (French publishers’ association) organised a reflection which resulted in a Livre blanc: plaidoyer pour une justice adaptée (a white paper making a plea for laws adapted to publishing) in 2003. The fear of a too-flexible justice system, a source of uncertainty for professionals, was strongly expressed, as well as the desire to make the economics of publishing – a fragile balance – better known to the courts. The increase in the number of lawsuits is a threat to wide freedom of expression. It could destabilize the sector: big groups are better prepared to confront these situations than ‘small’ publishers. Propositions for laws adapted to publishing emerged from this reflection.