FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Clara Hainsdorf, Bertrand Liard, Saam Golshani and Guillaume Vitrich, White & Case LLP
ARCOM oversees digital and audiovisual con - tent, including video game advertising, and can issue warnings or sanctions for non-compliance with digital content laws. DGCCRF ensures fair commercial practices, focusing on consumer protection, and regulates practices around loot boxes, microtransactions and advertising transparency. At the European level, the EU Commission ensures responsible operation of the video game industry through the DSA, GDPR and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, while fostering innovation and cultural impact. The PEGI system provides age ratings and content warnings for consumers and parents. The French Competition Authority also plays a significant role, having fined Sony group com - panies EUR13.5 million in 2023 for abuses of dominant position in the market for PlayStation Game developers in France face several IP chal - lenges, including ensuring originality for copy - right protection, securing trade marks amidst conflicts, and managing third-party content licences. Patents for game technology are hard to secure, and enforcing IP rights against online piracy is challenging. Clear contracts are crucial to avoid IP ownership disputes with employees or contractors. For digital and virtual assets, key considerations include ensuring originality, defining ownership and managing licensing terms to prevent unau - thorised use. Creators must guard against unau - thorised copying and potential infringement on shareable platforms. 4 video game controllers. 9.3 Intellectual Property
Trade mark laws protect brand names, logos and distinctive marks in virtual goods and services, preventing consumer confusion and safeguard - ing brand identity. User-generated content com - plicates IP rights, as users retain copyright, but platforms may claim usage rights through terms of service, leading to ownership and commercial use disputes. 10. Social Media 10.1 Laws and Regulations for Social Media The Law of 7 July 2023 introduces new obli - gations for social media platforms to protect minors online, such as requiring parental con - sent for minors. It aims to safeguard young users from online harm. The placement of cookies and subsequent processing of data is governed by the ePri - vacy Directive, which mandates explicit and informed consent for non-essential cookies, and GDPR. Users must have the option to accept or refuse non-essential cookies on equal terms. In December 2023, CNIL fined Yahoo EMEA Limited EUR10 million for failing to respect the choice of internet users to refuse cookies on its “Yahoo.com” website and for not allowing users of its “Yahoo! Mail” messaging service to freely withdraw their consent to cookies. Platforms must navigate whether/when to expe - ditiously remove illegal content under LCEN, the DSA and the SREN Law, as mentioned in 1.1 Key Challenges , while balancing free speech and avoiding over-moderation. Intellectual prop - erty compliance involves managing copyright issues on user-generated content without imple - menting overly restrictive measures. Frequent data breaches necessitate GDPR-compliant
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