One month before the presidential election, Eric Zemmour suffers a setback in court.
The candidate was condemned, Friday March 4, by the judicial court of Paris for “
copyright infringement
” and “
infringement of moral rights
”.
The candidate is accused of “
Reconquest!
for having used numerous archival images in his campaign entry video published on November 30, 2021. There are video extracts from works such as "
Jeanne D'arc
" by Luc Besson or "
Un Singe en hiver
by Henri Verneuil, productions whose exploitation rights belong to Gaumont.
Extracts held by AFP or the artist Woodkid were also used.
Without the explicit authorization of the authors or of the rightsholders, this use is considered illegal.
Read alsoWhat does Éric Zemmour risk for having used images without authorization?
At the time of the publication of the campaign clip, a complaint had been filed in summary proceedings by several entities such as Gaumont, Luc Besson, François Ozon or the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD).
“
It is an extremely important decision, it fully recognizes economic and copyright rights, it was extremely shocking that a candidate for the presidency of the Republic did not respect these rights
”, underlines Pascal Rogard, the director general of the SACD.
In his defense, Eric Zemmour put forward the right to quote, which allows extracts from works to be used for educational purposes, an argument ultimately rejected.
The candidate was finally ordered to pay a total of 70,000 euros to the plaintiffs.
Contacted, Eric Zemmour's campaign team did not wish to comment on the court decision.