Ten Hove Advocatuur has successfully argued that the Dutch State infringed the copyright and personality rights of the client. On 18 November 2020, the District Court of The Hague rendered a judgment ordering the State to stop the infringement. The State also had to pay a penalty of € 70,000, to be increased by statutory commercial interest. In addition, the State had to pay all costs of the proceedings.
What was it about? In short, in 2008 the clients in question jointly wrote and published a work entitled: ‘Stopping Crime, workbook for (ex-)prisoners’. In this book, a method was developed to help prisoners reorganize their lives and not fall back into crime. The clients concluded an exclusive license agreement with the Dutch Justice Department regarding the use of the book and the method. Although the State initially respected this license, the names of the authors were no longer mentioned in the materials used by the State. This is in conflict with the authors’ moral rights. Although on the initiative of the State a substantial fine was included in the agreement, the State refused to pay this fine and the infringement was denied.
This was successfully stopped.
