ECJ on Resale Right

The European Court of Justice ruled on the author's resale right in a disute on paintings of Salvador Dalí who died on 23 January 1989. This concerns on the interpretation of Articles 6(1) and 8(2) and (3) of Directive 2001/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the resale right for the benefit of the author of an original work of art (OJ 2001 L 272, p. 32).

According to the Directive, the resale right is an inalienable right which cannot be waived and defined as a right to receive a royalty based on the sale price obtained for any resale of the work, subsequent to the first transfer of the work by the author (Article 1(1)). The royalty is to be paid to author or after his death to those entitled under him/her (Article 6(1)).The term of resale right is the same as the term of author's right, i.e., for the life of the author and for 70 years after his death.

The decision is here.