Subsection 1: General provisions

A publishing contract is a contract by which the author of a work of the mind or his successors in title assign to a person called a publisher, on specified terms, the right to make or have made in number copies of the work or to produce it or have it produced in digital form, with the responsibility for its publication and distribution.

Does not constitute a publishing contract, within the meaning of Article L. 132-1, the so-called author’s account contract. With this type of contract, the author or his successors in title pay the publisher an agreed remuneration, with the latter being responsible for producing a number of copies of the work in the form and modes of expression specified in the contract, or for producing it or having it produced in…

Does not constitute a publishing contract, within the meaning of article L. 132-1, the so-called half-account contract. With this type of contract, the author or his successors in title commission a publisher to produce, at the publisher’s expense and in number, copies of the work or to produce it or have it produced in digital form, in the form and according to the modes of expression determined in the contract,…

A stipulation by which the author undertakes to grant a preferential right to a publisher for the publication of his future works of clearly determined genres is lawful. This right is limited for each genre to five new works from the day of signature of the publishing contract concluded for the first work or to the author’s production completed within a period of five years from the same day. The…

The contract may provide either for remuneration proportional to the operating revenue or, in the cases provided for in articles L. 131-4 and L. 132-6, a flat fee.

With regard to bookshop publishing, the author’s remuneration may be subject to flat-rate remuneration for the first edition, with the author’s formally expressed agreement, in the following cases: 1° Scientific or technical works; 2° Anthologies and encyclopaedias; 3° Prefaces, annotations, introductions, presentations; 4° Illustrations for a work ; 5° Limited edition luxury editions; 6° Prayer books; 7° At the request of the translator for translations; 8° Cheap popular editions; 9°…

The author’s personal consent, given in writing, is mandatory. Without prejudice to the provisions governing contracts entered into by minors and adults under curatorship, consent is even required where the author is legally incapable, unless he or she is physically unable to give consent. The provisions of the previous paragraph do not apply where the publishing contract is entered into by the author’s successors in title.

The author must guarantee to the publisher the peaceful and, unless otherwise agreed, exclusive exercise of the assigned right. He is obliged to enforce this right and to defend it against any infringements made against it.

The author must enable the publisher to manufacture and distribute copies of the work or to produce the work in digital form. The author must deliver to the publisher, within the period specified in the contract, the subject matter of the edition in a form that allows the work to be manufactured or produced in digital form. Unless otherwise agreed or technically impossible, the subject matter of the edition supplied…

The publishing contract must state the minimum number of copies constituting the first print run. However, this obligation does not apply to contracts providing for a minimum of copyright guaranteed by the publisher.