Performer (artiste-interprète)

A performer is a person who acts, sings, recites, declaims, plays or otherwise performs a literary or artistic work, a variety act, a circus act or a puppet show (Article L. 212-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code). The performer holds a right related to copyright, distinct from the right protecting the work performed, which comprises a moral right and economic rights. Supporting artists, whose contribution is ancillary according to professional practice, are excluded.

The performer’s moral right

A performer is entitled to respect for his or her name, status and performance (Article L. 212-2 IPC). This right is inalienable and cannot be lost through lapse of time, and it passes to the heirs for the protection of the performance and of the memory of the deceased. It is narrower than the author’s moral right, as it includes neither a right of disclosure nor a right of withdrawal, but it allows the performer to object to a distortion of the performance, for instance a remix or a synchronisation that alters its meaning.

Economic rights and written authorisation

The fixation of the performance, its reproduction and its communication to the public, as well as any separate use of the sound and of the image where the performance has been fixed for both sound and image, require the performer’s written authorisation (Article L. 212-3 IPC). In audiovisual matters, signature of the contract concluded with the producer amounts to authorisation to fix, reproduce and communicate the performance to the public, and the contract must provide for separate remuneration for each mode of exploitation (Article L. 212-4 IPC). For phonograms published for commercial purposes, the performer cannot object to broadcasting or to communication in a public place, and receives in return a share of the equitable remuneration organised under the statutory licence.

Term and employment status

Economic rights last fifty years from 1 January of the calendar year following the performance, extended to seventy years where the fixation in a phonogram is published or communicated to the public during that period. The term of related rights therefore runs from different starting points depending on the medium. The contract under which a performer undertakes to give a performance is presumed to be an employment contract, which does not prevent remuneration for subsequent exploitation from falling within intellectual property law.

Litigation

Exploitation of a performance without authorisation constitutes infringement, subject to civil and criminal sanctions under the general regime of related rights, before the judicial court. Performer status depends on the nature of the contribution and not on the contractual arrangement, so that a session musician or a dubbing artist may claim it.

Key points

A performer holds a moral right over his or her name, status and performance, and an exclusive right to authorise in writing the fixation and exploitation of the performance. The term is fifty years, extended to seventy years for published phonograms. Before any exploitation, check that a written authorisation exists covering each mode of exploitation and providing for separate remuneration.

---

This glossary entry is general in scope and does not constitute legal advice.

Dhenne Avocats is a patent litigation firm. Matters outside that field, such as trade marks, designs, copyright and IT contracts, are handled by practitioners the firm works with regularly, and by the firm itself when they arise in a patent dispute.

Intellectual property attorney · Tell us about your situation