Héritiers de Marzouki v. SATPEC and Taïeb Louhichi

Expediente y fuentes

Nombre

Héritiers de Marzouki v. SATPEC and Taïeb Louhichi

Cita

Tribunal de première instance de Tunis, affaire n° 54823 du 19 mars 1984, inédite

Tribunal

Tribunal de première instance de Tunis

Instancia

first-instance civil court

Fechas

Decisión

1984-03-19

Estado

unpublished judgment; detailed institutional report by WIPO

Resultado

The heirs' action was dismissed.

Resumen

The claimed material was not an original work of Marzouki and defendants had merely drawn on Tunisian folklore.

Antecedentes

The film L'Ombre de la terre used parts associated with the story Ezzazia El Hilalia. The heirs of poet Marzouki sued producer SATPEC and director Taïeb Louhichi, alleging that the film reproduced passages from Marzouki's work. Defendants said the story came from Tunisian folklore, a national heritage not open to individual appropriation.

Historia procesal

The heirs brought the action in the Tunis first-instance court. The located WIPO account records dismissal and identifies case number and date; no appeal or later treatment of this particular case was reported.

Cuestión jurídica

Whether Marzouki's version supplied original protectable expression appropriated by the film or merely reproduced well-known folkloric poems.

Criterio

The claimed material was not an original work of Marzouki and defendants had merely drawn on Tunisian folklore.

Fundamento decisivo

Reproduction of public or folkloric material, without an original personal contribution, does not create an exclusive copyright claim over that source material.

Límites

Unpublished first-instance judgment under the repealed 1966 law; WIPO supplies a report, not the primary judgment; folklore has a later special statutory regime in article 7 of the 1994 Act; it does not define GenAI control.

Relevancia

doctrina-general

Referencias relacionadas

Peso del precedente

Persuasive national first-instance analogy only, limited by nonpublication and later statutory change. Integración/votación: Coram, individual judge names and voting information were not published; the case is reported as an unpublished first-instance decision.

Fuente

Referencia

Héritiers de Marzouki v. SATPEC and Taïeb Louhichi

Enlace

Consultar fuente

Autoridad

World Intellectual Property Organization

Tipo

WIPO institutional case report; primary judgment unpublished

Fecha de comprobación

2026-08-30

Localizador

Le Droit d'auteur, April 1988, printed p 249; PDF p 78; footnote 34 identifies case no. 54823 and date

Verificación documentada

Sí