Ravel’s Boléro can continue to be used freely. It remains in the public domain and Maurice Ravel, originally from Ciboure, is its sole author. The Nanterre court dismissed this Friday, June 28, the rights holders of the composer as well as those of the Russian decorator Alexandre Benois. The heirs of the two families asked Sacem, the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers, to recognize Alexandre Benois as co-author of “Boléro”.
The court explained to me that “the documents provided did not demonstrate his quality as author of the argument (short summary, editor’s note) of the ballet”. If Alexandre Benois had been recognized as co-author, the Boléro would, in fact, have remained protected until May 1, 2039, for the next eleven years therefore, because the Russian died in 1960. The rule on rights to a musical composition that run for the entire life of its author, then the 70 years that follow, would have applied. The “Bolero” therefore remains protected until May 1, 2016.
Maurice Ravel’s heiress sentenced
Sacem’s lawyer welcomed this decision to AFP: “The court said, in essence, that Sacem was right to resist the stratagem of the Ravel heirs aimed at artificially extending the duration of protection for ‘Boléro'” Josée-Anne Bénazéraf said. Maurice Ravel’s heiress, Evelyne Pen de Castel, was ordered to pay a symbolic euro to Sacem “in compensation for his damage resulting from the abuse of the author’s moral rights”.
For a time, the royalties generated by Ravel’s Boléro represented “millions and millions of euros” annually, according to Sacem’s lawyer. But between 2011 and 2016, the sums earned by rights holders only represented 135,507 euros per year on average.
