Adoption of British Fair Dealing by the French System of Exceptions: In Praise of the Technique of Standards and the Philosophy of the Reasonable

As the result of technological, cultural and social developments, continental copyright law is now faced with a need for greater flexibility in the implementation of its exceptions. In order to introduce such flexibility, some propose introducing a mechanism similar to American fair use. Others recommend a broader solicitation of the fundamental rights and freedoms. This article sets out to analyse the way in which the French system of exceptions is inspired, or could be better inspired, by British fair dealing and, more broadly, by standards such as the “rules of the genre”, “brief quotations” and the “three-step test”.