EU member targets French Internet law

BRUSSELS, May 13 (UPI) -- A member of the European Parliament says he will urge legal action against France if it adopts a controversial Internet anti-piracy law.

At the urging of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, France's lower house of Parliament this week passed a "three-strikes" law that would cut off Internet access to those caught downloading copyrighted material. But the measure runs afoul of EU efforts to ban such access cut-offs without court orders and could generate a legal challenge, the EU Observer reported Wednesday.

French Socialist MEP Guy Bono says he will to ask the European Commission, which has consistently supported the parliament's position against Internet access cut-offs, to initiate a lawsuit against Paris for "not respecting (European) community legislation.

"If a French constitutional judge does not react, I will ask the European Commission to request the European Court of Justice launch infringement proceedings against the French government for not respecting community law," Bono told the newspaper.