Paris Court of Appeal confirms that Koons’s 'Naked' sculpture infringes copyright in 'Enfants' photograph, rejecting freedom of the arts and parody defences
Last week, the Paris Court Appeal ruled ( decision No 152/2019 ) in favour of the estate of late French photographer Jean-François Bauret in proceedings brought against, inter alia , US artist Jeff Koons (an artist who, as readers will know, has been sued a few times for copyright infringement: see, eg, here , here , and here ). The action related to the unauthorized reproduction of a photograph (Bauret’s ‘Enfants’, shown below on the left hand side) in a sculpture (Koons's ‘Naked’, below on the right hand side). 'Enfants' (L) and 'Naked' (R) The defendants had advanced a number of arguments, including that: ‘Enfants’ is not original; even if it was, ‘Naked’, would not incorporate any original elements thereof; even if prima facie infringement was established, freedom of the arts and parody would prevail over copyright. The court rejected them all. Let’s see what happened in greater detail. Background In 1970, Baure