Insubordinate France and its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon were sentenced on appeal to pay 40,000 euros for infringing the copyright of street artist Combo, announced the lawyer for this last Saturday to AFP.
In detail, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and LFI will have to jointly pay 15,000 euros for the “moral damage” suffered by the artist and 5,000 euros each “in compensation for his financial damage”, according to the judgment of the Court of Appeal. of Paris dated July 5, of which AFP has knowledge. To these sums are added 15,000 euros in legal costs.
The Court of Appeal thus reversed the decision of the Paris Court of Justice which had, in 2021, dismissed the street artist of his requests, ordering him to pay 5,000 euros in legal costs. At the heart of the dispute: “The Asian Marianne”, a mural representing a Marianne with a bare right breast carrying a tricolor flag, with the caption “We want justice”, produced by Combo in early 2017 on Boulevard du Temple in Paris.
In June 2020, the artist accused Jean-Luc Mélenchon of using this fresco without permission in campaign clips. Before the Court of Appeal, he claimed from the political leader and his party more than 900,000 euros for counterfeiting, infringement of his copyright and non-pecuniary damage, according to the judgment. Combo “complained primarily about political exploitation of his work and damage to his reputation,” said a statement from his lawyer.
His “victory is historic because it constitutes the first case law rendered in France protecting a work of street art by copyright”, welcomed Me Nicolas Le Pays du Teilleul, quoted in this press release.
