Droit de suite (resale right): Current developments in France and the U.S.

The French Constitutional Court issued a ruling on 28 September 2012, confirming that the statutory provisions governing the droit de suite's transmission post mortem are constitutional.

 

Pursuant to Section L.123-7 of the Intellectual Property Code, upon the author's death, the droit de suite passes to the author's heirs (and spouse) to the exclusion of legatees.  This provision was attacked as creating an undue discrimination between heirs and legatees.

 

The Court held that the difference in treatment was justified, stating that: “by reserving the transmission of the droit de suite upon the author's death to heirs [...], to the exclusion of legatees and other successors-in-interest, the legislator has instituted a difference in treatment between persons who are differently situated; such difference in treatment is directly related to the objective pursued by the law.” 

 

The ruling by the French Constitutional Court is here. 

 

Interestingly, the U.S. Copyright Office is currently undertaking an inquiry at the request of Congress to review how current copyright law affects and supports visual artists; and how a federal resale royalty right for visual artists would affect current and future practices of groups or individuals involved in the creation, licensing, sale, exhibition, dissemination, and preservation of works of visual art. 

 

The US Copyright Notice of Inquiry is here.