Ninth Circuit Finds Renoir Descendant Liable for Copyright Infringement

Holding:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has found Jean-Emmanuel Renoir (“Jean”), a great-grandson of French artist Pierre-Augusto Renoir (“Pierre”), and Beseder, Inc. (“Beseder”), an Arizona art gallery, liable for copyright infringement for reproducing 10 sculptures created jointly by Pierre and his assistant Richard Guino (“Guino”) 90 years ago. Pierre and Guino created the original sculptures at issue in France between 1913 and 1917. In 1984, plaintiff Societe Civile Succession Richard Guino (“Societe”) registered for U.S. copyright protection. On July 10, 2003, Societe filed its complaint against Jean and Beseder alleging federal copyright infringement.The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizon agranted Societe partial summary judgmenton its copyright infringement claim and the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s finding over defendants’ arguments that the sculptures were in the public domain. According to the Ninth Circuit, because the first two publications of the statues in 1917 and 1974 were in a foreign country and did not include a U.S. copyright notice, the statues were not in the U.S. public domain. Between the first years of publication and copyright, the statues could have been copied and distributed because they were not in the public domain and not protected by copyright. However, once the copyright was granted, Societe acquired the sole right to reproduce the statutes until 2043, seventy years after the death of Guino, the last surviving author.

Detailed Summary:

Defendants Beseder and Jean appealed the district court’s finding of copyright infringement against them. Opinion, p. 16116.

By way of background, Pierre and Guino created the sculptures between 1913 and 1917. The sculptures were first published in France no later than 1917 under Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s name. There was no pre-1978 publication containing an American-style copyright notice. In 1973, Guino obtained a determination by the French Supreme Court that he was a co-author to certain works of sculpture by Pierre including the sculptures at issue, and he was awarded a one-half interest in the Renoir-Guino sculptures.

In 1974, the sculptures were exhibited…

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