From this BBC article about a man who sued Disney for copying his clownfish character:
What is involved in advertising a court ruling under French law?
Also, the article wasn’t very clear. Was the current ruling actually the result of a countersuit by Disney, after Le Calvez lost his original suit months ago?
Yesterdays ruling was in response to a second suit that Le Calvez filed againsy Disney.
I don’t really know much about French law but Le Calvez has to pay for the cost of advertising the ruling in 3 publications of Disney’s choice.
It’s relatively common under french law, in particular in cases of malpractice or fraud when the court decides that the general public has an interest in knowing a company was sentenced for such or such reason. It generally involves publishing a brief statement (maybe 100 words or so) about company/person X having been found guily of whatever crime in one or several local newspapers, at the expense of the sentenced person/company. The company can also have to post the ruling on its doors for a given duration (which might be a killer for, say, a restaurant sentenced for serving rotten food).
It’s also common in case of libel, defamation of character, etc…when the guilty party is a media, that said media has to advertize its own sentencing. In this case, the ruling has to be read (on TV, for instance) or printed (magazines), and when printed, it’s often very noticeable, like a full page in bold character.
The kind of situation you’re describing is less common. I didn’t hear about this case, but it seems at first glance that the publishing of the ruling (most probably not the complete ruling, but a sum up) is mostly done in the interest of Disney. I assume because the accusation has caused some serious harm to the reputation of the company.
With a company as big as Disney, it seems like advertising in a national publication might be more appropriate. On the other hand, that’s quite a bit steeper a penalty for one person to pay. Is it always just local publications, or do they sometimes require national ones? And if there’s a distinction, are there rules about that? As an American example, would USA Today be a local publication for Northern Virginia, where their HQ is?
The article also mentions he was convicted of fraud. If Ponster is right, and he was actually the plaintiff in this case, that seems odd to me. I suppose it’s civil, not criminal fraud - although perhaps there is not the distinction I imagine. I should probably go back and read that thread on the French legal system.
I smell a conflict of interests, here: Disney is primarily a media company, and they (or affiliated companies) probably own a fair number of publications themselves. Could Disney force Le Calvez to purchase expensive advertisements in Disney-owned periodicals?