French far-right pundit and presidential candidate Éric Zemmour was found guilty of copyright infringement on Friday over his unauthorised use of film clips and newsreels in a video launching his run for the Élysée Palace.
Zemmour, a writer and talk show pundit known for his polarising attacks on Muslims and immigrants, was ordered to pay a total of 70,000 euros to plaintiffs including French film directors Luc Besson and François Ozon.
His 10-minute campaign video – in which he warned that the traditional France of Joan of Arc was disappearing under the weight of migration and foreign cultures – featured a clip from Besson’s 1999 biopic of the French Medieval heroine, starring Milla Jovovich.
Other plaintiffs included movie production house Gaumont, which said it had received no requests from Zemmour's team to use clips from Besson’s "Joan of Arc" or 1960s classic "A Monkey in Winter" starring Jean-Luc Belmondo, to which it owns the rights.
Zemmour’s video, posted on social media on November 30, also featured multiple news clips of Muslims praying in the street, street violence, and the aftermath of terrorist attacks, triggering responses from media groups including FRANCE 24, whose footage was also used.
At the time, FRANCE 24 said it was "opposed on principle to the use of its images and its logo in all political campaigns", demanding their immediate removal.
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Zemmour, 63, has two convictions for hate speech and is appealing a third. He is currently polling in fourth position, at around 12%, ahead of the first round of France’s presidential election on April 10.
Defending its use of film and media clips in the campaign video, Zemmour's team claimed it had respected the right to use "short quotes" freely.
However, French copyright rules state that brief extracts can be used only for reviews, opinion pieces, and scientific or informational articles – not for promotional content. Original authors can also take action if they feel their work has been distorted in its use – a charge which several writers and historians have laid against Zemmour.
