A French court has overturned a previous ruling by a lower court allowing Artnet to freely use images taken by a French photographer of items owned by third parties, sold at auction and published alongside auction results. This latest ruling, in favor of photographer Stephane Briolant, is to be challenged by Artnet in an appeal at the supreme court.
Artnet argues that copyright laws should be applicable to images containing an element of creativity, and that the images in question are taken under strict imposed guidelines by the fee-paying auction houses. Therefore once the photographer has been paid his wage, he has no right to claim further damages; in this case amounting to €750,000.
Since Artnet has removed the 6,700 auction-house images as a precautionary measure, they raise concerns over art market price transparency. They claim that databases will have no choice but to raise fees for their consumers, of whom auction houses count for a large part. They also highlight how the contradictory nature of these court rulings signals a lack of legal security for businesses.
In 2013, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered Artprice to pay out €900,000 to the auction house Camard and to Stéphane Briolant for the same reason.
