Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Societe Civil Succession Richard Guino v. Renoir (9th Cir. - Dec. 9, 2008)

Copyrights are not perpetual. So it's pretty darn rare, in this day and age, to see a copyright claim involving a series of sculptures created by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Yes, that Renoir -- the French impressionist who made, inter alia, several $70 million-plus artworks.

After all, Renoir was born in 1841, and died almost a century ago. Surely there can't be any lingering copyright claims about his stuff, can there?

Yes. There can. And is.

It's actually an interesting IP puzzle. Which you should, in any event, read while you can. 'Cause litigation involving the copyright ownership of Renoirs ain't gonna be around indefinitely.