A full report of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law. The French Supreme Court upheld a judgment of the Court of Appeal of Paris that found an individual guilty of reproducing sculptures of Rodin, stating that the infringement of rights in a work that has fallen into the public domain consists of…

The French Act No. 2012-287 of 1 March 2012 ‘on the digital exploitation of unavailable books of the twentieth century’ created a specific compulsory collective management system for out-of-commerce books, in Articles L.134-1 to L.134-9 French intellectual property Code (‘IPC’). These new provisions were intended to allow the digitisation and reissuing of books that are…

2016 was a busy year for European copyright law. Unsurprisingly, Brexit and its potential impact on copyright in Europe and the UK was one of the most popular topics on the Kluwer Copyright Blog. Other hot topics included the much-anticipated CJEU judgment in the GS Media case and the ongoing EU copyright reform.  We provide a countdown below…

A full report of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law. Article L.113-3 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the French Intellectual Property Code (‘IPC’) provides that a work of collaboration shall be the joint property of its authors, and that joint authors shall exercise their rights by common consent. The decisions relating to…

A new French Law provides that search engines using thumbnails will have to pay royalties via a compulsory collective management for the reproduction of photographs and images. The French Act No. 2016-925 of 7 July 2016 on freedom of creation, architecture and cultural heritage contains several provisions on copyright that modify the intellectual property Code…

The Labour Chamber of the French Supreme Court has reaffirmed that under Article L.111-1 paragraph 3 of the French Intellectual Property Code (‘IPC’), a labour agreement entered into with the author of a work shall in no way derogate from the general rule, under which the author is the first creator. Therefore, in default of…

The Conseil d’Etat, the French administrative Supreme Court, ordered the French Prime Minister to take regulatory measures to indemnify the ISPs (Internet service providers) for the costs incurred when the HADOPI Commission requires them to provide information relating to internet users who have or are likely to have infringed copyright law. A full summary of…

The prior express consent of the author is necessary to use a copyright work under EU law; the statutory presumption of collective management of copyright doesn’t comply with the need for express prior consent, even with an opt-out possibility and for a legitimate objective, Advocate General Wathelet said in his opinion on the pending request…

In a judgment of 17 March 2016, the Cour de cassation, the French Supreme Court, ruled that the judicial courts are required to assess and award the remuneration for private copying in situations where one of the decisions of the Commission in charge of setting the fair compensation has been annulled. A full summary of…

The French Supreme Court confirmed that a writ of summons for infringement of intellectual property rights must determine and specify the elements for which protection is sought, as well as the allegedly infringing acts. A writ of summons, such as that in the case at hand, which does not sufficiently describe or identify the work…