Letters and Comment

Fashion shows win French copyright protection

Your article Design law in the European fashion sector touches on some of the difficulties for IP protection in the fashion industry. Your readers may be interested, therefore, in a French High Court ruling on February 5, 2008, that French Copyright protection applies to a fashion show. The protection granted by the High Court is not limited to the clothing, headgear and other creations displayed on the podium. It also covers the overall creation of the show, including the combination of music, lights, colors, choreography, etc.

The case related to the broadcast on a website (without authorization of the fashion houses) of photographs taken during several fashion shows. The Court of Appeal ruled that this broadcast fell within the scope of copyright infringement. The sued parties argued in vain before the High Court that the broadcast had been made for information purpose only.

.. but paparazzi photos are excluded from copyright

In contrast, another interesting recent ruling went the other way, this one concerning the application of copyright to photographs taken by paparazzi.

A publishing company had brought an infringement case against some magazines which had reproduced photographs for which the plaintiff had earlier acquired copyright ownership from paparazzi photographers. On December 5, 2007, the Paris Court of Appeal denied the claim and ruled that copyright protection does not apply to paparazzi pictures.

Article L. 112-2 of the French Intellectual Property Code includes photographs amongst artistic works liable to enjoy copyright protection as long as they are original. The judge looked at whether the pictures in this case should be considered original artistic works. He found the work of the paparazzi to be passive and focused only on material aspects. The lack of any artistry in the composition of the photograph, the angle of the camera or the choice of the moment was also brought to bear in the consideration of originality. Some economic considerations also weighed in the balance.

To consider Paparazzi photographers as technical persons rather than artistic creators from a copyright perspective makes good sense. This decision does not however definitively...