(Brussels) The publisher Dupuis can revive Gaston Lagaffe, but on condition of consulting the daughter of the designer Franquin, authorized to object to such a project, decided on Tuesday a private arbitration requested by the two parties in this legal dispute.
“The principle of a resurrection of Gaston is lawful, but Dupuis and Dargaud-Lombard did not respect the contractual process of approval and Isabelle Franquin always has the right to put forward her observations”, indicated Tuesday evening the lawyers of Madame Franquin announcing the decision.
In March 2022, at the Angoulême festival, Dupuis created an event in the world of Franco-Belgian comics by announcing the forthcoming release of a new episode of the adventures of Lagaffe, a new album entitled Le retour de Lagaffe, under the pencil of Quebec designer Marc Delafontaine (alias Delaf).
But that was without counting the pugnacity of Isabelle Franquin, daughter and sole beneficiary of the designer André Franquin who died in 1997.
Refusing to allow her father’s star character to live again in the guise of another designer, the latter took legal action in Belgium.
She first obtained, in the context of an interim action a year ago, the suspension of the publication of the Return, initially scheduled for October 2022.
In fact Dupuis has undertaken not to publish a new album before 2023 at the earliest, the time for the dispute to be settled on the merits by private arbitration, in this case a Brussels lawyer chosen by the two parties.
Dupuis editions believe that they own the economic rights to Franquin’s characters, through the 2013 acquisition of the company Marsu Productions with which the creator of Lagaffe had concluded a transfer agreement in 1992.
For her part, Isabelle Franquin argued that her father himself “did not want Gaston Lagaffe to be taken over by another designer after his death”. It is “an inalienable moral right” that she can exercise, her lawyer Martine Berwette insisted in May 2022.
Ultimately, the arbitration, a procedure that is not subject to appeal, concludes that Lagaffe can be reborn “provided that Isabelle Franquin’s prior approval is sought in the forms provided for in a contract concluded between the parties in 2016” .
“Gaston’s project by Delaf was not approved by Isabelle Franquin” and “the moral right” exercised by the latter “spring intact”, is it stipulated.
“His agreement is essential for any new creation, including the choice of the author”, insists the arbitrator according to the press release, which specifies that “any refusal on his part must be justified by ethical or artistic reasons. “.
