Creations and entertainment

Authors, artists, performers

Creating a work of art is a complex process, but one that is particularly satisfying for its creator when it succeeds.

To reward and reward him, French law grants him copyright, which enables him to control the use made of his work, giving him a genuine property right with a monopoly to authorize or prohibit any exploitation of his work.

For this to happen, the creation must meet a number of conditions, including having a concrete form and being original.

In fact, certain creations are excluded from copyright protection by their very nature (e.g. fragrance, culinary flavor).

MOSAIK helps you determine what is protectable in your creative process, and advises you on how best to preserve your rights.

This protection must be dated in order to ensure that it is fully effective against third parties who, in bad faith, believe themselves to be the prior creators.

The firm does its utmost to ensure that creators are recognized as the authors of their content (music, books, plastic works, audiovisual works, paintings, etc.) by implementing various measures depending on the type of work:

  • Deposit with trusted third-party organization
  • Deposit with a collecting society
  • Drawing up a report and filing a copy with a public official
  • Soleau envelope
  • Save a copy on a secure third-party server.

Through these measures, the firm ensures the full effectiveness of an author's prerogatives over his or her creative work.

As a result, the author has both "economic" and "moral" rights to his work.

Economic rights give the author and his successors the right to exploit his work, while moral rights ensure respect for the author's personality and the spirit of the work.

The monopoly granted may then be the subject of an agreement with third parties to allow its distribution or exploitation, according to the author's wishes.

Be careful, however: the author must grant uses in line with his or her wishes, and must be particularly vigilant when drafting these authorizations.

MOSAIK advises and assists authors in order to clarify their commitments, and also to help them negotiate in their best interests these authorizations, known as contracts of transfer of rights, licenses of use, licenses of authorization, adapting to the situation of each work (work created alone, or with other artists, under the supervision of a patron, etc.).

These contracts can be particularly complex, not only because of the variety of operating methods involved, but also because of the way in which remuneration is determined:

  • Flat-rate remuneration
  • Proportional remuneration on a gross basis
  • Proportional remuneration on a net basis (e.g. RNPP - Recettes Nettes Part Producteur)
  • Stamp

It is also important to consider thetax aspects of the latter in order to limit their fiscal impact as much as possible:

  • Direct remuneration through copyright notes / invoice
  • Setting up a rights management company to invest in the creation of new works

In addition, the firm regularly assists authors to ensure the proper exploitation of their works through various legal and contractual mechanisms (verification of rendering of accounts, verification of modes of exploitation, communication and analysis of measures implemented for the purpose of exploiting the work and making it known to the public, etc.) to verify compliance with contractual commitments entered into.

Lastly, the firm assists authors and artists in situations where a third party or co-contractor has infringed their rights (counterfeiting) by initiating proceedings in their interests (formal notice, infringement seizure, writ of summons), as urgently as necessary (writ of summons for a fixed date, writ of summons for summary proceedings, writ of summons for summary proceedings hour by hour/indicated hour) and even in criminal cases by filing a complaint, following up judicial information or issuing a direct summons to appear before the Criminal Court.