GoKawiilFrance's Conseil d'État rules against public access to Rodin Museum 3D scans
After an eight-year freedom of information battle, France's highest administrative court ruled against activist Cosimo Monico (writing as the requester) and co-plaintiffs Communia, Wikimédia France and La Quadrature du Net, who sought public release of 3D scans of Auguste Rodin's public domain sculptures. The ruling came despite an earlier opinion from France's own Commission on Access to Administrative Documents (CADA) finding the scans were administrative documents that should be disclosed, and despite the museum director's own written admission that she intended to ignore FOI law and force the matter to court.
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The case tests whether digitization of public domain cultural works can be used by institutions to effectively re-enclose heritage that should belong to the public, a concern long raised by open-access advocates. The author suggests the court's reasoning—reportedly invoking surrealist logic to argue a scan may not count as a 'document'—could set a troubling precedent for future FOI requests involving digital reproductions held by cultural institutions. The outcome may embolden other museums to resist similar transparency demands regarding 3D or digital scans of public domain works.
- France's Conseil d'État ruled against years-long efforts to force the Rodin Museum to release 3D scans of public domain sculptures.
- The French government's own CADA commission had earlier found the scans qualified as administrative documents subject to disclosure.
- The case involved advocacy groups Communia, Wikimédia France and La Quadrature du Net as co-plaintiffs represented by lawyer Alexis Fitzjean Ó Cobhthaigh.
Source: cosmowenman.substack.com — Cosmo Wenman, 2026-10-03
Published there as: “Treachery in the Rodin Museum 3D scan verdict”
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