Thursday, December 04, 2003  
"A man upright" François Bourgeon fights the Americanization of Europe's Copyright laws

:: Posted by max @ 12/04/2003 12:46:00 PM
Translated from this text @ bdselection.com - link co ¡Journalista!



François Bourgeon held a conference moderated by Marie-Pierre Larrivé (AFP) at the festival of Blois.



The author of "Passengers of the wind" discussed his lawsuit with his publisher Casterman and explained why he thinks the rights of creators are in danger.



Casterman was François publisher for the series "La Source et la sonde".



According to him, this Lawsuit was justified by the fact that when he signed on with Casterman, it ran its own printing operation. This allowed him to be contractually assured control over the manufacturing of his books.



This arrangement was inspired by the fact that Bourgeon was less than satisfied with the Printing of books by his preceding publisher. So in his contract with Casterman, Bourgeon included a clause that gave him the authority to personally assure the quality of the Book manufacturing. The same contract also included a third book for the series, though without a deadline stipulated.



When Casterman was later bought out [2000] by the Flammarion Group, a French publishing conglomerate, the company was divided into three, separating the print operations from the Publishing house.



With this change in the division of labour, the authors felt that their contract was null and void.



The Case has been before the court, and so far the authors were ordered to Produce a book as fast as possible for Casterman, with an incentive of 1000 Euros per day, that they would pay the publisher!. Basically they lost big time.



The creators have appealed the decision, François Bourgeon affirming he would not create "with a rifle in the back". The judgement on the appeal should be given this week.



François Bourgeon explained that his legal battle aimed at protecting the rights of creators in the context of the homogenization of the Publishing industry (Flammarion was bought out by an Italian group).



He announced that creators in businesses similar to his are in peril if they do not mobilize themselves, that European creators rights are eroding in the course of becoming more ‘compatible’ with American copy right laws.



The uvres of creation and their spirit could become reduced to simple goods that the author loses all rights or control over after sold once {ala the marvel system} " The auteur ‘entrusts’ his rights to an publisher but they do not belong to the publisher ".



The author's catalogue cannot be sold pointed out François Bourgeon. {?}



François, weathering the conflict but obviously very affected, has not published in 6 years. He concluded that if he was to lose this lawsuit he will give up drawing BD as a trade.



    
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