French High Court Rules Rodin Museum's 3D Scans Are Not Public Documents
Treachery in the Rodin Museum 3D scan verdict
After an eight-year freedom of information battle, France's Conseil d'État ruled that the Rodin Museum's 3D scans of public-domain sculptures are not administrative documents but part of its inalienable collection, making FOI law inapplicable. The decision reverses a lower court victory that had ordered the museum to release the scans and pay €1,500. The court also ordered the requester to pay €3,000 to the museum.
When France's highest court for administrative justice hears your eight-year freedom of information case, and the court's own legal analyst directly invokes surréalisme to argue that 'sometimes a document is not a document,' you know you're about to get wrecked.