Bernard Arnault Vs Elon Musk: Failed Legal Fight Occurs, Here's Why!

JAKARTA - LVMH's newspaper group, Les Echos-Le Parisien, was not part of a lawsuit involving French media against Elon Musk's X platform. Whereas previously they stated they would join. This was confirmed by a court official and four sources in the media industry.

Les Echos-Le Parisien and other French newspapers, including a publication belonging toLe MondedanLebary, last November said they would file a lawsuit to pressure X to compensate for their content used on the social media platform without payment.

This kind of cost is designed to ensure journalistic content remains widely available on digital platforms while at the same time providing better financial stability for publishers. This rule is mandatory under copyright laws and EU-related rights.

Continuing this lawsuit will bring together LVMH and its controlling shareholder and CEO, Bernard Arnault, with Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and US President Donald Trump's main ally. Arnault was present at Trump's inauguration.

Two sources stated that Les Echos-Le Parisien had notified high executives in another newspaper that they would not continue the lawsuit, without explaining the reasons behind the decision.

"We have indeed threatened to sue X in the past. Other discussions have been held since then," said a spokesman for Les Echos-Le Parisien, who declined to provide further explanation.

LVMH declined to comment. Lawyer X in France also declined to comment.

The EU rule ofLes Echoes is France's leading daily business newspaper, while Le Parisien is a public news newspaper.

In an article published by Les Echos last November, CEO of Les Echos-Le Parisien, Pioneer Louette, stated that X, "same as any other platform" that generates traffic and revenue from their newspaper content, "must comply" with EU copyright rules.

"This is a matter of maintaining quality information, the main foundation of our democracy," he added.

French publishers, including Les Echos-Le Parisien, previously won a similar case against Alphabet's Google before France's competition authorities in 2021. They also reached an agreement with Meta on similar issues.

"The law on related rights applies to everyone," said Louette, who also serves as chairman of France's main newspaper publisher association, in a recent interview with Le totaling.

Last month, Les Echos-Le Parisien became part of a newspaper group announcing a similar lawsuit against Microsoft's LinkedIn platform. The date of the trial has not been announced.

LVMH bought Les Echos in 2007 before taking over the Le Parisien public newspaper in 2015 as part of an expansion into the media world. Last year, LVMH took over Paris Match, a well-known weekly magazine covering politics, entertainment, and celebrities. The conglomerate also has a French radio station.

Bernard Arnault last month praised the "wind of optimism" which he said was hitting the US after Trump's election and expressed his support for Musk's role in the White House. Arnault said France "must imitate the United States and appoint someone to reduce the bureaucracy."