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ARTICLE · 27 SEPTEMBER 2019

French Picasso Judgment Is Abstract Expression To U.S. Law

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Last week, Sheppard Mullin partner Neil Popović (SF) secured summary judgment against recognition of a €2 million ($2.2 million)

United StatesIntellectual Property
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Last week, Sheppard Mullin partner Neil Popović (SF) secured summary judgment against recognition of a €2 million ($2.2 million) French judgment against art editor Alan Wofsy and Wofsy's company Alan Wofsy & Associates.

The dispute centers around photographs of the works of Pablo Picasso. In the early 1900s, Christian Zervos, working directly with Picasso, compiled some 16,000 photographs of Picasso's work in a multi-volume collection that became known as the Zervos Catalogue. The first volume of the Zervos Catalogue was published in 1932. Yves Sicre de Fontbrune, a French citizen, later acquired the rights to the Zervos Catalogue.

In 1995, American art editor Alan Wofsy, having obtained permission from the Picasso estate to reproduce the master's works, began publishing a new collection entitled The Picasso Project, which included some photographs that had appeared in the Zervos Catalogue. In response, de Fontbrune brought a copyright infringement suit against

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