17
The author shall have a right of preemption in respect of all or some of the copies. In the
absence of agreement, the buyback price shall be set in accordance with expert opinion.
Article 68: The publisher may not transfer the enjoyment of the publishing contract to
third parties, either free of charge or against payment or as a contribution to the assets of
a partnership, independently of his business, without first having obtained the author's
consent.
In the event of the disposal of the business in such a way as seriously to compromise the
author's material or moral interests, the author shall be entitled to obtain reparation even
in the form of termination of the contract.
Where the publishing business was operated as a partnership or a joint enterprise, the
award of the business to one of the former partners or one of the coowners as a result of
the liquidation or division shall under no circumstances be considered assignment.
Article 69: A publishing contract shall come to an end, irrespective of the situations
provided for in ordinary law or in the preceding articles, when the publisher destroys all
the copies.
The contract shall be terminated automatically where, when the author has formally
notified the publisher of an appropriate deadline, the publisher has not published the work
or, where it is out of print, republished it.
A publication shall be deemed to be out of print where two requests for deliveries of
copies addressed to the publisher have not been fulfilled within three months.
Where, in the event of the author's death, a work is incomplete, the contract shall be
terminated in respect of the unfinished part of the work, except as otherwise agreed
between the publisher and the author's successors in title.
Section 3: Performance contracts
Article 70: A performance contract shall be a contract under which the author of a work
of the mind and his successors in title authorize a natural or legal person to perform the
work under conditions that they stipulate.
A contract under which a professional association of authors affords to an entertainment
promoter the faculty of performing, during the term of the contract, the present or future
works that constitute the repertoire of such association, under the conditions laid down by
the author or his successors in title, shall be known as a general performance contract.
Article 71: A performance contract shall be concluded for a limited duration or for a
specified number of communications to the public.