CZECH REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Daniela Kozáková, ŠIROKÝ ZRZAVECKÝ, attorneys-at-law
erned by Section 2371 et seq of Act No 89/2012 Coll. (the Civil Code), under which “the author grants the licensee the right to use the copyrighted work in its original or processed or otherwise modified form, in a certain way or in all ways of use, to the extent limited or unlimited”. The general rules imposed by the Civil Code – such as the obligation to use the licence – may otherwise be agreed in their majority by the parties to the licence agreement. The author of the work shall receive remuneration for the provision of the licence if it is not expressly stated that it will be provided for free. The licence should also include its purpose, the scope and limits of the use of the work, and whether it is exclusive or not. In principle, the author may withdraw from the contract, due to a change in their stance, if their as yet unpublished work no longer corresponds to the author’s convictions and its publication would jeopardise the author’s substantial personal interests, or to the acquirer’s inactivity (if not agreed otherwise), the latter being subject to the author’s obligation to compensate the acquirer for any resulting damages. 4. Authentication of Artworks 4.1 Posthumous Rights to Authenticate Artwork When an author dies, no one may claim the author’s authorship of the work. If it is customary, and if the work is not anonymous, the author must be credited each time someone uses the work. Even after the eco - nomic rights have expired, protection of these per - sonal rights may be claimed by: (i) a person close to the author as defined in Section 22 of the Civil Code – this includes relatives in the direct line, a sibling, spouse or partner under another law governing regis - tered partnerships; other persons in a family relation - ship or similar relationship are considered to be close if the harm suffered by one is reasonably perceived by another to be harm to themselves (Section 22 of the Civil Code); or (ii) a legal entity associating authors or the relevant collective administrator. 4.2 Art Authentication There is no explicit legal obligation to include a work in a catalogue raisonné or to certify authenticity, but
a refusal to do so must be justified as the general legal principles of civil law apply. When considering authenticity, all persons must act in good faith, with due care and honesty. Also, the owner of the artwork can prove the authenticity of the work in court using other evidence available to them. 4.3 Legal Remedies Following a Declaration of Inauthenticity As inauthentic works are not legally defined under Czech law, for the purposes of this chapter, they will be understood to be intentionally illegally created imitations of other works of art that are not the crea - tions of the relevant author. Since the originality and authenticity of the work are absolute necessities of the purchase contract, the seller is obliged to deliver a work matching the quality, execution and dimensions agreed, so the provision of a fake corresponds to a contract default on the part of the seller. The purchaser must be careful with the description of the artwork in the purchase agreement and inspect the sold object’s quality and quantity promptly upon receipt as the seller is not liable for defects that the purchaser could have observed with due care at the time the purchase contract was concluded, or that were not claimed immediately after the purchaser became aware of, or could have become aware of, their existence with due care; this can be no later than two years after the handover of the work, unless the seller knew about the defect at the time of handover (Section 2079 et seq of the Civil Code) provided that the defect is notified to the seller without undue delay after it could have been discovered with the exercise of due diligence. In any event, the right to claim such defects shall be statute-barred if not exercised within the applicable limitation period, which is two years (for moveable assets) from the date of handover. If the seller is liable for the defect, the purchaser will be entitled to claim (based on their sole discretion):
• an appropriate discount on the price; • delivery of a new asset without defects; • removal of the defect by repair; or • immediate termination of the contract.
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