French Intellectual Property Code

A work in the creation of which several natural persons have taken part is said to be collaborative. A new work into which a pre-existing work is incorporated without the collaboration of the author of the latter is said to be composite. A work is said to be collective when it is created on the initiative of a natural or legal person who edits, publishes and discloses it under his…

The collaborative work is the joint property of the co-authors. The co-authors must exercise their rights by common agreement. In the event of disagreement, it is for the civil court to rule. Where the participation of each of the co-authors falls within different genres, each may, unless otherwise agreed, separately exploit his or her personal contribution, without, however, prejudicing the exploitation of the joint work.

The composite work is the property of the author who made it, subject to the rights of the author of the pre-existing work.

A collective work is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, the property of the natural or legal person under whose name it is disclosed. This person is vested with the rights of the author.

The authors of pseudonymous and anonymous works enjoy the rights recognised by article L. 111-1. They are represented in the exercise of these rights by the original publisher or publisher, as long as they have not made their civil identity known and provided proof of their capacity. The declaration provided for in the preceding paragraph may be made by will; however, any rights that may have been acquired by third…

The natural person or persons who carry out the intellectual creation of an audiovisual work shall have the status of author of that work. In the absence of proof to the contrary, the following shall be presumed to be co-authors of a collaborative audiovisual work: 1° The author of the screenplay; 2° The author of the adaptation; 3° The author of the spoken text; 4° The author of the musical…

The natural person or persons responsible for the intellectual creation of a radio work shall be the author of that work. The provisions of the last paragraph of Article L. 113-7 and those of article L. 121-6 are applicable to radio works.

Unless otherwise provided for in the articles of association or stipulated otherwise, the economic rights in software and its documentation created by one or more employees in the performance of their duties or on the instructions of their employer are vested in the employer, who alone is entitled to exercise them. Any dispute on the application of this article shall be submitted to the judicial court of the employer’s registered…

Unless otherwise stipulated, where persons not covered by article L. 113-9 and who are hosted under an agreement by a private or public legal entity carrying out research create software in the performance of their duties or according to the instructions of the host structure, their economic rights in this software and its documentation are vested in this host structure, which alone is entitled to exercise them, if they are…

An orphan work is a protected and disclosed work whose rights holder cannot be identified or found, despite diligent, proven and serious research. When a work has more than one rights holder and one of these holders has been identified and found, it is not considered orphan.