Franoise and Matt met four years ago while attending a training course in Intellectual Property for the Arts. Like true soul mates, both had thought

Françoise and Matt met four years ago while attending a training course in "Intellectual Property for the Arts". Like true soul mates, both had thought that it would be very useful to their work as professional photographers to acquire some knowledge of this area of the law. Following enticing study sessions and fascinating IP-related conversations, they fell for each other and started dating shortly after the conclusion of the copyright part of the course.

 

Inspired by the work of American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (in particular his male nudes), three years ago Françoise asked Matt to pose for her naked, in order to re-create some of those pictures, and thus refine her photographic technique. Françoise's idea was not to use those photographs for any particular reason if not self-improvement. Matt was a bit reluctant at the beginning, but eventually agreed to Françoise's request. Being a photographer himself, he was also able to give Françoise some very valuable tips, and correct her initial technical mistakes. 

 

Thanks to this experience, Françoise's technique greatly improved and, unlike Matt, she quickly became a successful photographer with several commissions. Sadly, Françoise' success had a negative impact on and ultimately led to the end of her relationship with increasingly frustrated Matt. 

 

Newly single and in need of new challenges, a year ago Matt decided to move to Tuscany. Once there, he opened a website where he displays his professional portfolio and, when not too busy riding his Vespa and partaking in endless aperitivi, blogs about photography-related issues. 

 

Matt thought that, given his contribution to Françoise's photographs, he could add the nude photographs that Françoise had taken to his own professional gallery. He thus uploaded five photographs onto his website, without providing any specific information as regards the author of the shots. 

 

Last month, while engaging in one of her daily weekly periodical Google searches for Matt-related news, 

 

Françoise found out about her former boyfriend's website and the photographs she had taken. Deeply upset she thought that, even if copyright had made them fall in love, it could now be used as a weapon against Matt. So Françoise decided to seek the advice of a lawyer to see whether she could successfully take legal action against him. 

 

Task: Advise Françoise in relation to the relevant copyright issues at hand and Matt's potential objections.