Page "Eiffel Tower" Paragraph 2

The imposition of copyright has been controversial.

The Director of Documentation for what was then the Société nouvelle d ' exploitation de la tour Eiffel ( SNTE ), Stéphane Dieu, commented in January 2005, " It is really just a way to manage commercial use of the image, so that it isn't used in ways we don't approve.

" However, it also potentially has the effect of prohibiting tourist photographs of the tower at night from being published, as well as hindering non-profit and semi-commercial publication of images of the tower.

Besides, French doctrine and jurisprudence traditionally allow pictures incorporating a copyrighted work as long as their presence is incidental or accessory to the main represented subject, a reasoning akin to the de minimis rule.

Thus, SETE could not claim copyright on photographs or panoramas of Paris incorporating the lit tower.