French Intellectual Property Code

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.

The publisher is obliged to carry out or have carried out the manufacture or production in digital form under the conditions, in the form and according to the modes of expression provided for in the contract. He may not, without written authorisation from the author, make any changes to the work. He must, unless otherwise agreed, display on each of the copies or on the work produced in digital form…

The publisher is obliged to ensure that the work is permanently and continuously exploited and commercially distributed, in accordance with the practices of the profession.

The publisher is obliged to render an account. The author may, in the absence of special terms provided for in the contract, require at least once a year the production by the publisher of a statement mentioning the number of copies manufactured during the financial year and specifying the date and size of print runs and the number of copies in stock. Unless otherwise customary or agreed, this statement will…

The publisher is obliged to provide the author with all justifications likely to establish the accuracy of his accounts. If the publisher fails to provide the necessary justifications, he will be obliged to do so by the judge.

The publisher’s safeguard or receivership proceedings do not result in termination of the contract. When the business is continued in application of articles L. 621-22 et seq. of the Commercial Code, all the publisher’s obligations to the author must be respected. In the event of transfer of the publishing business in application of articles L. 621-83 et seq. of the aforementioned Commercial Code, the purchaser is bound by the obligations…

The publisher may not transfer, whether free of charge or for consideration, or by way of contribution to a company, the benefit of the publishing contract to third parties, independently of his goodwill, without having first obtained the author’s authorisation. In the event of alienation of the goodwill, if this is of such a nature as to seriously compromise the material or moral interests of the author, the latter is…

The publishing contract is terminated, without prejudice to the cases provided for by common law, by the preceding articles of this sub-section or by the articles of sub-section 2, when: 1° The publisher proceeds to the total destruction of the copies; 2° The publisher, after formal notice from the author setting a suitable time limit, has not proceeded to the publication of the work or, in the case of exhaustion,…