Case C-518/08

Fundación Gala-Salvador Dalí

and

Visual Entidad de Gestión de Artistas Plásticos (VEGAP)

v

Société des auteurs dans les arts graphiques et plastiques (ADAGP) and Others

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the tribunal de grande instance de Paris)

(Approximation of laws – Intellectual property – Copyright and related rights – Resale right for the benefit of the author of an original work of art – Directive 2001/84/EC – Persons entitled to receive royalties after the death of the author of the work of art – Concept of ‘those entitled’ – National legislation retaining, for a period of 70 years after the death of the author, the resale right solely for the benefit of the author’s heirs, to the exclusion of all legatees and successors in title – Whether that legislation is compatible with Directive 2001/84)

Summary of the Judgment

Approximation of laws – Copyright and related rights – Directive 2001/84 – Those entitled to receive royalties after the death of an author of an original work of art

(Art. 95 EC; European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/84, Art. 6(1))

Article 6(1) of Directive 2001/84 on the resale right for the benefit of the author of an original work of art must be interpreted as not precluding a provision of national law which reserves the benefit of the resale right to the artist’s heirs at law alone, to the exclusion of testamentary legatees. That being so, it is for the referring court, for the purposes of applying the national provision transposing Article 6(1) of Directive 2001/84, to take due account of all the relevant rules for the resolution of conflicts of laws relating to the transfer on succession of the resale right.

The adoption of Directive 2001/84 is based on two objectives, namely first, to ensure that authors of graphic and plastic works of art share in the economic success of their original works of art and, second, to put an end to the distortions of competition on the market in art, as the payment of a royalty in certain Member States might lead to displacement of sales of works of art into those Member States where the resale right is not applied. While the Union legislature wished those entitled under the author to benefit fully from the resale right after his death, it did not, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, consider it appropriate to take action through that directive in relation to Member States’ laws of succession, thus leaving to each Member State the task of defining the categories of persons capable of being considered, under national law, as those entitled. Accordingly, it is permissible for Member States to make their own legislative choice in determining the categories of persons capable of benefiting from the resale right after the death of the author of a work of art.

(see paras 27, 32-33, 36, operative part)