We told you about the action brought by the sculptor Daniel Druet against the Galerie Perrotin, its publishing house and the Monnaie de Paris for having organized an exhibition in September 2016 about the work of the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, without mentioning the name of the sculptor.
The latter had sought to have his rights recognized in court over several creations entrusted to him by the Italian artist.
The decision rendered this summer was not favorable to him and recognizes the active role of Cattelan in the building and staging of the sculptures. However, a careful reading of the decision reveals that the stumbling block in this file was more the fact that Druet sought to be attributed full authorship of the works (whereas the quality of co-author would certainly could have been granted to him more easily) and that he sought to do so with third parties, namely the Galerie Perrotin and the Monnaie de Paris, to whom it could not really be up to him to recognize such a function.
The court therefore criticizes the plaintiff for not having summoned Maurizio Cattelan himself, since if he seeks to have his authorship recognized to the detriment of the latter, the debate cannot be held in his absence.
This decision remains interesting for the debates it has sparked on the authorship of works in contemporary art.
See TGI Paris – July 8, 2022
