On the eve of the Roman Days in Nîmes, a judicial seizure carried out on the premises of the organizer of the event

La décision de justice est attendue dans les prochaines semaines. Midi Libre – FLORENT GARDIN

INFO MIDI LIBRE. Ce jeudi 2 mai au matin, une saisie a eu lieu au siège nîmois d’Edeis romanité. Le gestionnaire des monuments romains est mis en cause dans une affaire de contrefaçon portant sur son dernier spectacle Vercingétorix.

Purely objective historical facts or constituent elements of a scenario, therefore falling under the intellectual property of its authors?

This is the question that the Marseille judicial court, competent in matters of intellectual property, will soon have to decide, regarding around sixty elements contained in the last show of the Days Vercingétorix, played in the arenas of Nîmes in May 2023.

As part of this new dispute between the delegatee of the town hall of Nîmes, manager of Roman monuments and its former director and scenographer, Eric Teyssier and Yann Guerrero, the Marseille jurisdiction carried out, this Thursday morning 2 ;May, in Nîmes, the judicial seizure of various elements in the very premises of the Edeis company. Elements of a nature that could invalidate – or confirm – the version of the two applicants, including Yann Guerrero whom Midi Libre was able to reach by telephone this Tuesday afternoon.

Elements of narration, artistic creation ?

At the head of the CPPP association, former co-contractor of Edeis, notably for the scenography of the show Hadrian and the War of the Picts (2022), the person concerned believes that, for example the pitch, or many elements of staging (such as the inaugural prayer of the Vercingétorix show), are simply the narration of Eric Teyssier, or even his own artistic creation .

"Confident, in the court decision to be taken, we are reassured by the seizure ordered today by a magistrate, carried out by a bailiff supervised by judicial police officers. The elements recovered in the premises of Edeis Romanité and now under seal will most certainly be likely to support our allegation that these are our ideas – and not simple historical facts – which were stolen from us to be reused in the show Vercingétorix ".

Operations manager at Edeis, Lucie Schnoebelen, confirms today's judicial seizure in the premises of her company, indicating that among the numerous elements and documents seized (videos, visuals, ..)  " most of them are already freely accessible on the internet".

Barely 24 hours before the start of the 2024 Roman Days, the entrepreneur also said she was confident in the court decision to be taken, " the history of ancient Rome falling within History with a big H belonging to everyone, and in no case to the two personalities from Nîmes who once again took legal action ".