Authors, artists, performers
The creation of a work is a complex, but extremely satisfying process for its author upon completion.
To compensate and value this creation, French law grants copyright on the work which enables the author to control the use made by conferring a real right of ownership on the work, with the monopoly to authorize or prohibit any exploitation of the author’s work.
To do so, the creation must respect several conditions, i.e., have a real form and be original.
Accordingly, some creations are excluded from any protection by copyright due to their type (for example: fragrance, culinary taste).
MOSAIK shall accompany you in order to determine what may be protected in your creative process, and shall advise you in order to best protect your rights.
This protection must be dated in order for it to be fully and firmly effective against third parties, who consider, in bad faith, to be the previous creators of the work.
The firm shall make its best endeavors to ensure that the creators are clearly recognized as the authors of their contents (music, books, plastic works, audiovisual works, paintings, etc.) by the implementation of different measures, depending on the type of work:
- Filing with a body acting as a trusted third party
- Filing with a collective management company
- Drafting of a statement with filing of a version with a public agent
- Soleau envelope
- Registering of a copy on a third-party secured server.
Through these measures, the firm shall ensure the full effectiveness of an author’s prerogatives on his creative work.
The copyrights offer the author and his assigns, the right to exploit the work, whereas the moral rights ensure the respect of the protection of the author’s personality and the intention of the work.
The monopoly granted may be subject to an agreement with third parties in order to enable its dissemination or exploitation, at the author’s discretion.
Nonetheless, it must be emphasized that the author must grant use that is compliant with his intents and must be particularly vigilant when drafting these authorizations.
These agreements may be particularly complex due to the variety of the exploitation methods to be envisaged, but also due to the different possible remuneration methods:
- Flat-rate remuneration
- Proportional remuneration based on a gross amount
- Proportional remuneration based on a net amount (for example: RNPP – Producer’s Share of Net Revenues)
- Talent fees
It shall also be necessary to envisage the tax situation for such remuneration in order to limit their tax impact as far as possible.
- Direct remuneration by royalties invoices / invoices
- Setup of a company for the management of rights in order to enable investment in the creation of new works.
Furthermore, the firm regularly assists the authors in order to ensure the proper exploitation of their works, through various legal and contractual mechanisms (verification of the accounts, verification of the exploitation methods, communication and analysis of the measures implemented in order to exploit the work and to make it known to the public, etc.), to verify the respect of the contractual commitments concluded.
Finally, the firm shall accompany the authors and performers in situations where a third party or another contracting party were to breach their rights (infringement), by initiating any procedures in their interests (formal notice, confiscation of works infringing copyright, summons), urgently and as necessary (fixed-date motion, interim motion, summons to make a statement in a summary trial/summons to appear before the court in a summary trial at a fixed time), and also in criminal proceedings, by the filing of a claim, the follow-up of a preliminary investigation or the issuance of a direct summons to appear before the Magistrates court (French Tribunal correctionnel).