Intellectual Property Law

Basics of Copyrights Laws in France

By IBLS Editor

Copyrights in France are regulated by the French Intellectual Property Code and related international agreements.  For instance, France is signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Universal Copyright Convention of Geneva, and WIPO Copyright treaty.  Additionally, as member of the European Union, France abides by the European Union Directives related to copyrights such as the European convention for the protection of audiovisual heritage, Directive 2001/29/EC, among others. The National Institute of Industrial Property is the government office in charge of regulating copyrights and related in France.  This article provides information on the basics of copyrights in France.

According to the French Intellectual Property Code (IPC), any original work, expressed in any form, may be copyrighted (L-112-1).  French IPC provides examples of works subject to copyright protection, though this list is not exclusive. France protects any literary, artistic, or scientific writings, conferences, speeches, pleadings, dramatic works and musical comedies, choreographic works, fashion shows, musical compositions with or without words, movies, motion pictures, audiovisual works, designs, paintings, sculpture, engravings, lithographs, photographic works and works using photographic techniques, illustrations, maps, titles, translations, adaptations, transformations, or arrangements of pre-existing works of art, and computer works and databases. (L 112-2 to L 112-4).

France confers author both patrimonial rights and moral rights.  Patrimonial rights confer the author the right to sell, reproduce, represent, ad exploit the copyrighted work for a financial gain.  Patrimonial rights may be sold or licensed and they endure for the life of the author plus 70 years.   According to French copyright laws, copyrighted works may be used without authorization or consent for personal use, personal information purposes, quotes, and parody.  Works of art may also be reproduced without the author's consent for private use, for free, and only for the reproducer's family.  This reproduction without authorization was introduced in a 2006 amendment to the IPC which cause great controversy in France. Moral rights are those rights conferred to the author to respect his name and work.  Moral rights are inalienable.  Moral rights last for the life of the author and are transferred to the author's heirs.        

The French IPC defines those who may benefit from copyrights.  The individual author receives full copyright benefits; collaborative works confer rights to each of the authors collaborating to produce the final work; composite works (modifications of other copyrighted works) confer copyright benefits to the creator of the new work as long as it does not affect the copyrights of the author of the preceding work; collective works provide copyright benefits to the editor or publisher of the whole work, no to the individual contributors to that work;  works produced by the author due to an employment agreement grant copyright benefits for the employee unless there is an specific contractual provision to the contrary.     

Examples of copyright infringement are expressly provided by the French IPC.  For instance, reproduction, performance, dissemination, translation, adaptation, transformation or arrangement, by any means whatsoever, of a work of art without the consent of its author constitutes copyright infringement in France.  Trafficking, exporting, or importing infringing works constitute copyright infringement under the French IPC.  Lastly under French law, failing to respect the author's moral rights constitutes infringement.  Civil infringement actions may be filed by the author or its licensee, as well as criminal actions. Criminal sanctions for infringement may be of up to 3 years imprisonment and fines of $300,000 Euros.    

Full post as published by IBLS Internet Law Blog on June 09, 2008 (boomark / email).