Prevost wrote to Hadopi telling it to contact his wife about the downloads. However, it replied via email messages he could no longer receive.

For unwittingly ignoring Hadopi’s messages, Prevost received a summons to visit his local police station where he wrote a statement repeating his claim that he did not download the songs.

The police asked him to have the songs removed from his PC by a local firm and he took documentary evidence of this to court when he received a summons from Hadopi.

Prevost told PC Inpact that he went to court without a lawyer to represent him, believing that his honesty and co-operation would count in his favour.

For breaking the three strikes law, Prevost could have faced a fine of up to 1,500 euros (£1,200) and had his web connection cut off for a month. After making his statement in court, the 300 euro (£240) fine the prosecution sought was halved.

Marie-Francoise Marais, head of Hadopi, speaking to local French newspaper Le Pays, said the agency “was mainly a mission of education, not repression”.

via BBC News – Pirated Rihanna songs land Frenchman in court.