The Constitutional Court in France has ruled that the last amendments in the Heritage Code are legal and constitutional.
These amendments concern the following:
“The use, for commercial purposes, of the image of buildings constituting national domains, on any media, is subject to the prior authorization of the custodian [French term is “gestionnaire”] of the relevant portion of the national domain. Such authorization may take the form of a unilateral deed or a contract, whether or not in conjunction with financial terms.
The fee shall take into account the advantages of any kind obtained by the holder of the authorization.
The authorization contemplated by the first paragraph is not required where the image is used in the context of the exercise of a public service mission or for ends that are cultural, artistic, pedagogical, for teaching, research, informational and by way of illustration of current events.”
The case was initiated by Wikimedia France which claimed that these amendments as stated are at variance with the French Constitution in particular with the freedom to carry on business, as well as the right of property, and the principle of equality before the law.
According to the Court, however, the above-mentioned amendments are constitutional because they give options for free use of heritage images in case of education, cultural activities, informational purposes and such related to a public service mission.
For more information here.
Source: The 1709 blog.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PLANET 