The Nanterre court on Friday rejected the rights holders of Maurice Ravel and the Russian decorator Alexandre Benois, who asked the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers (Sacem) to recognize the latter as co-author of the famous “Bolero”.
The tribunal “rejected the requests of the rights holders of Maurice Ravel and Alexandre Benois concerning Boléro, one of the most performed and broadcast works in the world”the court detailed in a statement, the work “therefore remains in the public domain”.
Regarding the hypothesis of co-authorship by Mr. Benois, the court considered that “the documents provided did not demonstrate his quality as author of the argument (short summary, editor’s note) of the ballet”.
The thesis of another injured co-author, the choreographer Bronislava Nijinska, was also dismissed by this judgment, the artist having not “never appeared on the documentation of +Bolero+ as co-author”.
“This is a very well-reasoned decision, which took care to examine all the elements brought to the attention of the court and which validates Sacem both in its approach (…) and in its position with regard to safeguarding the interests of its members”reacted to the AFP Me Yvan Diringer, who defends Sacem with Me Josée-Anne Bénazéraf.
“The action of the estates and publishers (also parties to the case, editor’s note) is rejected by the court, we analyze the decision calmly before responding to the press”Gilles Vercken, lawyer for the Ravel estate, told AFP.
Maurice Ravel’s heiress, Evelyne Pen de Castel, is also ordered to pay one euro to Sacem. “in compensation for his damage resulting from the abuse of the author’s moral rights”details the decision.
This judgment ensures that at this stage, the “Bolero” remains in the public domain as it has been since 2016.
For Sacem, which manages and collects copyright in France, to recognize Mr. Benois as a co-author would have had the effect of protecting the work until May 1, 2039, Mr. Benois having died in 1960.
In France, copyright on a musical composition lasts for the lifetime of its author and then for the following seventy years. It then falls into the public domain and can be used freely.
The “Bolero” was protected for seventy-eight years and four months, because the law provides for extensions which aim to compensate for the loss of income of French artists during the two world wars, which carried the protection until May 1, 2016.
