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Sentenced for his sculptures evoking the universe of Tintin, Peppone will appeal the decision

2021-06-22T01:55:17.909Z


Found guilty of counterfeiting, the artist must pay more than 100,000 euros in damages to the Moulinsart company, which manages the rights of the character of Hergé.


What if Hergé was not the creator of Tintin?

The argument was daring but was not enough to convince the court of Marseille, which on Thursday condemned a sculptor to pay more than 100,000 euros in damages to SA Moulinsart for

"forgery"

.

"The character of Tintin, created by Hergé (...) is an original work within the meaning of the intellectual property code"

, writes the court in its decision consulted by AFP.

Read also: During confinement, Tintin was pastiched, parodied, hijacked ... and even recovered by the extreme right

The plastic artist Christophe Tixier, alias Peppone, was condemned, along with the gallery which exhibited his busts representing Tintin, to pay, among other things, to the Moulinsart company the sum of 114,157 euros in damages.

He indicated through the voice of his lawyer Delphine Cô that he would appeal against this judgment.

The decision also prohibits them from marketing the works.

Christophe Tixier was sued in civil proceedings by the Moulinsart company, manager of Hergé's work, for having produced and sold resin busts of the intrepid journalist with the blond puff, covered with comic strips.

The company claimed some 200,000 euros in damages and the return of the sculptures.

Read also: Exhibition canceled, rocket erased from a poster ... Moulinsart gags the tributes to Tintin

At the hearing on April 15, the lawyers of the artist, installed in Aix-en-Provence, had tried to instill doubt on the paternity of Tintin.

Delphine Cô and Kamila Crisan had produced drawings by illustrator Benjamin Rabier who, in an 1898 album, told the stories of

"Tintin-Lutin"

, a character dressed in golf pants and a puff.

“The character of Benjamin Rabier shows that the character of Tintin, created by Hergé, is not inspired by it in any way (...) No indication is given on the character, the behavior and the context in which Benjamin Rabier has makes his character evolve, so that the comparison with the character of Tintin created by Hergé is totally irrelevant,

”the court ruled.

When you're an artist, you spend your time taking inspiration from each other

Christophe Tixier, alias Peppone

In addition to the realization of these some 90 busts, the company also criticized Peppone for a sculpture of the red and white rocket from the album

Objectif Lune

.

"When you are an artist, you spend your time drawing inspiration from each other,"

Christophe Tixier had defended, deploring to AFP the

"relentlessness"

of the Moulinsart company, which had been dismissed from a previous action before the criminal court in May 2018.

Jealously protected rights

The lawyer for SA Moulinsart, Antoine Jacquemart, for his part accused the opposing party of confusing

"originality and novelty"

.

The widow of Belgian cartoonist Fanny Vlamynck, Hergé's universal legatee since his death in 1983, and SA Moulinsart, headed by her second husband Nick Rodwell, are known to jealously protect their copyright.

To read also: He offers sensual love to Tintin: an artist sued by Moulinsart for "attacking the moral order"

On May 10, the Rennes court had yet dismissed the Moulinsart company, which was suing the painter Xavier Marabout, whose works combine the worlds of Tintin and Edward Hopper. He had recognized in his deliberations

"the exception of parody"

and

"the humorous intention"

. On the other hand, in May 2019, the cartoonist Pascal Somon was sentenced to 10 months of suspended imprisonment and two years of probation, for having counterfeited the works of Hergé. He was also forced to pay 32,000 euros in damages to the Belgian company and to Fanny Vlamynck.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-06-22

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