Hard to pass in front of the Eiffel Tower without seeing cameras or phones released to immortalise a memory of the Iron Lady, day and night. Yet at night, when the Eiffel Tower is illuminated, it is technically forbidden to photograph and share its image - on social networks for example, without the rights of the artist. According to the European Copyright Law, historical monuments are protected during the lifetime of the legal artist and 70 years later. Gustave Eiffel died in 1923, so it was in 1993 that our Parisienne (and French) mascot entered the public domain. So far so good.
But in 1985, the 20,000 lights and 280 projectors installed by Pierre Bideau are well regarded as an artistic work and according to the Societe d'Exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE), "The various lights of the Eiffel Tower (golden illumination, flicker, lighthouse and event lighting) are protected. The exploitation of the image of the Eiffel tower at night is subject to prior authorisation from the SETE. This exploitation is subject to fees payment, the amount of which depends on the intended use, of the media plan ... ".
"The shots of the Eiffel tower at night for individuals and for private use do not require prior agreement. Whereas, professionals must imperatively get closer to our teams who will tell them the operating conditions of the images".
For a 'private use', it would be good then, in theory, when you publish the snapshot on Facebook or Instagram - or elsewhere publicly on the internet - to add 'SETE - Pierre Bideau Illuminations'.
"We are talking about a monument photographed thousands of times a day," says Marc Nouss, a leisure and brand photographer in the cntraveler magazine.
"I still photograph it without mentioning anything like everyone else, but I would not take the risk of selling one at night."
Unlike the professionals, the SETE will not have fun chasing the billions of people who have one day shared a photo of the illuminated Eiffel Tower, so we can continue to play tourists without fear!
