Copyright
Original works are protected by copyright. But what are the criteria for protection? What is originality? What do you have to do to protect your creations? How do you transfer your rights? How to acquire rights to a work? How to act and defend oneself in case of infringement?
Arénaire Avocats lawyers are competent in all areas of literary and artistic property law and have developed a leading-edge expertise in copyright. For an effective protection and a serene exploitation of your works, we study with you the most efficient means to ensure their protection. We accompany you throughout the exploitation of your works to defend your interests. Our job: to understand your problem and to provide a solution.
Arénaire Avocats: your partner in protecting your copyright
Arénaire Avocats advises you and helps you understand the criteria for protection and assess the eligibility of your achievements for copyright protection. We assist you in implementing the necessary measures to give a definite date to your creations, to secure your authorship and to ensure an efficient protection of your rights.
Valuation and transfer of your copyright
Whether you wish to transfer your copyrights as a creator, or whether you are seeking to acquire copyright in a work, it is necessary to draw up an agreement. The agreement for the transfer of copyright is strictly regulated by law. It includes mandatory information, in particular the indication of the extent of the rights transferred (nature, duration, territory, purpose). Arénaire Avocats drafts and negotiates your assignment agreements, licensing agreements, commissioning agreements, publishing agreement, production agreement, etc. and ensures an optimal defence of your interests.
Arénaire Avocats: advice and litigation in copyright law
In the event of copyright infringement, we determine with you a strategy of attack or defence, to preserve your moral and economic rights and we study, with you, the best way to protect your interests.
Civil litigation
Our lawyers advise, assist, and represent you in all pre-litigation and litigation phases of your dispute:
- Cease and desist letters
- Safeguarding of evidence, pre-trial investigation measures: reports of findings, seizures of counterfeiting goods, etc.
- Summary proceedings in urgent or obvious situations
- Infringement proceedings as well as unfair and parasitic competition proceedings
- Enforcement of judgments
- Negotiations
- Amicable settlements
- Mediation and arbitration
Criminal litigation
Copyright infringement is an offence and can therefore give rise to customs and criminal proceedings.
Arénaire Avocats advises and assists you in the context of customs surveillance and detention, in France and throughout the European Union.
We also assist you in:
- filing complaints with the public prosecutor.
- defending your interests in the context of criminal investigations or instructions.
- filing a civil action with an investigating judge.
- the defence of your interests in the context of a first appearance examination with a view to an indictment.
- hearings before the criminal court.
Our lawyers assist you before the criminal courts to defend your rights.
Boots on the ground
How do you defend yourself against a false accusation of plagiarism? It is sometimes in the most unlikely places that the most conclusive evidence can be found: national archives, libraries, antique shops, etc. Over the years, Arénaire Avocats has acquired an expertise that allows us to conduct investigative work in the field.
Our passion for design and its history sometimes leads us to travel the world in search of the evidence that will support our clients’ defence.
Contact our team
Arénaire law firm is at the service of companies and designers based in Paris, in the Ile de France region, but also throughout France and abroad.
Arénaire Avocats: lawyers competent in all areas of copyright law, in France and abroad
Visual arts
Music
Cinema
Design
Illustration
Theatre
Graphic design
Architecture
Publishing
Photography
Literature
Production
Audio-visual
Sculpture
Fashion design
Digital
Painting
Software
Creations can be exploited all over the world and the Internet has no borders. More than ever, it is necessary to have an international vision of the protection and defence of copyright. In order to offer optimal advice and assistance, the team of Arénaire Avocats keeps itself closely informed of the evolution of the law in France, in the European Union and in the world. The firm also relies on a network of correspondents and colleagues in many countries, notably in the main European countries, in China and in Russia.
Copyright: our clients trust us
Arénaire Avocats assists companies of all sizes, large groups as well as SMEs, public institutions, creators, self-employed, employees and individuals.
Thanks to our solid and recognized expertise, we are able to intervene in a variety of copyright issues:
- Advising and representing the design office of an internationally renowned architect with regard to the protection of street furniture and works of applied art.
- Advising and representing an internationally renowned author in a dispute concerning the unauthorised publication of his book by his former publisher.
- Advising and representing a public industrial and commercial establishment, of great renown in the field of culture, in a dispute concerning the validity of a publishing agreement concluded with an author of a children’s book.
- Regularly advising a research institute on the drafting of artistic commission agreements, publishing agreements and copyright assignments.
- Regularly advising a renowned photographer in connection with his contracts with gallery owners and cultural venues.
- Advising and representing a photographer in a dispute relating to the unauthorised reproduction of his photographs by the publisher of a specialized magazine.
- Advising and representing a communication agency in a dispute concerning the exploitation of its graphic and visual creations by a former employee who has become a competitor.
- Counsel and representation of a designer in a dispute concerning the use of the logo created for a real estate construction company which refused to pay in full for the service on the grounds that the services had not been satisfactory.
- Advising and representing an international company in the field of public transport, in a dispute concerning the use of a logo and graphic charter created by a communication agency.
- Advising and representing a major player in the furniture and decoration industry in the protection of applied artworks created by its design office.
- Advising and representing a luxury house in a dispute relating to the protection of an iconic fashion bag.
- Counsel to a leading French SME in the creation of children’s playgrounds in connection with the protection of its creations.
- Advising organisations specialising in training in connection with the drafting of copyright assignment clauses.
- Representation of a sculptor in a dispute with her publisher and gallery owner.
Sharing our expertise in copyright law
Based on our experience and our in-depth knowledge of intellectual property law, we regularly publish articles on copyright in leading publications. We are the authors of the JurisClasseur booklet entitled “Customs and counterfeiting – Customs powers in the fight against counterfeiting and proceedings initiated following customs intervention”.
We also give lectures and training courses, in particular at several universities, at the Paris Bar school and at various art and architecture schools, or professional bodies.
Do you have questions about copyright? Do you need legal assistance in acquiring or transferring copyright? Do you need an expert copyright lawyer to assist and represent you in a dispute? Contact us and we can discuss your problem and the solutions we can provide.