intellectual-property creative-commons france
Retraction right in France vs. Creative Commons
<p>Creative Commons (CC) licenses are known to be irrevocable. The documentation even contains a paragraph named "<a href="https://creativecommons.org/faq/#what-if-i-change-my-mind-about-using-a-cc-license">What if I change my mind about using a CC license ?</a>".</p>

<p>Recently, I have encountered that in French Intellectual Property (IP) law, allows a "<em><a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006069414&amp;idArticle=LEGIARTI000006278894">droit de retrait</a></em>" (retraction/removal right in English) which is definitely incompatible with CC license.</p>

<p>Which one primes on the other? I would probably say that French Law is more powerful and would void the contract, but a second opinion is very welcomed (especially with more information).</p>

<p><em>Disclaimer: I am not an expert in French law, but do read French semi-decently.</em></p>

<p>French Law is indeed more powerful than a CC license. This is because licenses are contracts, and contracts only have as much force as the law provides for.</p>

<p>As <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/a/7835/3209">previously mentioned</a> on this site, Creative Commons acknowledges that even a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CC0 license</a> (the least restrictive CC licence) cannot necessarily revoke all of an author's rights, particularly moral rights. </p>

<p>In France, <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do;jsessionid=131517FC37031E1B642057DA59DE084D.tpdila12v_3?idSectionTA=LEGISCTA000006161636&amp;cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006069414&amp;dateTexte=20161027" rel="nofollow noreferrer">moral rights</a> include a <em>droit de retrait</em>. This does not mean the CC license as a whole would be invalid, but it certainly seems that an irrevocability clause would be.</p>

<p>Side note: The <em>droit de retrait</em> is <a href="http://jiplp.oxfordjournals.org/content/6/8/535" rel="nofollow noreferrer">hard to invoke</a> and is <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do;jsessionid=131517FC37031E1B642057DA59DE084D.tpdila12v_3?idArticle=LEGIARTI000006278899&amp;cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006069414&amp;dateTexte=20161027" rel="nofollow noreferrer">not applicable to software</a>.</p>
