French consumers are not entitled to make personal copies of DVDs, even if they do not distribute them, France's highest court said Wednesday in a victory for film companies like Vivendi Universal:

The Cour de Cassation in Paris, quashing a decision by a lower court, ruled that a consumer could not make a backup copy of David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive." The purchaser, a member of the UFC Que Choisir consumer association, had argued that Vivendi's Studio Canal film-production unit did not have the right to use a device that made it impossible to burn duplicate digital video discs.

"This means that if one pays €20 for a DVD, one is just buying the right to use that one DVD," Ahmed Baladi, a Paris-based lawyer at Allen & Overy, said. "This ruling will have an influence on neighboring sets of laws, including those regulating the music industry."