15
Article 75 – An agreement known as a “half-and-half” contract does not constitute a
publishing contract within the meaning of Article 73. Under this kind of contract, the
publisher is instructed by the author or his successors in title to make, at their
expense, multiple copies of the work in the manner and in accordance with the form
of expression specified in the contract, and to publish them, in return for a
commitment mutually entered into to share the profits and losses from the
exploitation, in the proportion stipulated. This kind of contract constitutes a joint
venture pursuant to Articles 47 to 50 of the Commercial Code. It is governed by
convention and custom.
Article 76 – It is lawful to specify that the author undertakes to grant a preferential
right to a publisher for the publication of his future works in clearly defined genres.
This right shall be limited for each genre to five new works, calculated from the date
of signing of the publishing contract entered into for the first work or on the production
achieved by the author within a period of five years calculated from the same date.
The publisher must enjoy the right granted to him by informing the author in writing of
his decision, within a period of three months from the date on which the latter delivers
each definitive manuscript. Where a publisher enjoying the preferential right has
successively refused two new works submitted by the author in the genre specified in
the contract, the author may immediately and as of right regain his freedom in
relation to any future works he produces in this genre. Where he has received
advances for his future works from the first publisher, however, he must first refund
them.
Article 77 – A contract may provide either for remuneration proportional to the
proceeds of exploitation or, in the cases referred to in Articles 63 and 78, for
remuneration in a lump sum.
Article 78 – Where book publishing is concerned, the author’s remuneration may be
a lump-sum remuneration for the first edition, with the formally expressed agreement
of the author, in the following cases:
1) Scientific or technical works;
2) Anthologies and encyclopaedias;
3) Prefaces, annotations, introductions, presentations;
4) Illustrations to a work;
5) Limited de luxe editions;
6) Prayer books;
7) At the request of the translator, for translations;
8) Low-priced popular editions;
9) Low-priced albums for children.
Lump-sum remuneration may also be paid for the assignment of rights to or by a
person or undertaking established abroad. Where intellectual works published in
newspapers or periodicals of any kind, or by press agencies, are concerned, the
remuneration of the author, who is bound to the news publishing company by a
contract for the provision of services, may also be fixed as a lump sum.
Article 79 – The personal, written consent of the author is compulsory. Without
prejudice to provisions governing contracts entered into by minors and persons of full
age under temporary guardianship (persons deprived of legal capacity), consent is
even required in the case of an author without legal capacity, save where he is