Dr. Eugene-Louis Doyen had been performing surgery under the gaze of the camera for seven years when his case against one of his cameramen, Ambroise-Francis Parnaland was heard in the courts. Together with Clement-Maurice, Parnaland filmed over sixty films for Doyen. These films had always been a contentious topic within the medical profession amidst fears that the surgical operations would become a lurid form of entertainment.

Their fears were soon founded when copies of a film (Séparation des soeurs xiphopages Doodica et Radica (1902)) of Doyen separating conjoined twins, who were a sideshow attraction with Barnum & Bailey and therefore the subject of intense media scrutiny, began to appear in travelling fairgrounds. Doyen soon discovered that Parnaland had kept negatives of the film of the operation so that he could print positives and sell them on. Sensitive to the concerns of the profession, Doyen successfully took legal action against his former cameraman.

The Tribunal of First Instance of Seine ruled that films consisted of a series of photographs and that Doyen, who gave explicit instructions as to how the filming was to be carried out, was the author of the film and was therefore entitled to reproduction rights under the Law of 1793. The films in question were subsequently confiscated and destroyed and damages awarded to Doyen.

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Sources:

Film Copyright in the European Union. Contributors: Pascal Kamina - author. Publisher: Cambridge University Press. Place of Publication: Cambridge, England. Publication Year: 2002. Page Number: 41.