On September 24, France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, confirmed a January 2024 ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal, which found Allary editions guilty of fraud for classifying Guillaume Allary, the founder of the publishing house, as an artist or author rather than as an employee. Allary had worked with Riad Sattouf on the comic series L'Arabe du futur and contributed to the development of other works between 2015 and 2016. Allary editions argued that he was a co-author of these works, but the court found no sufficient evidence of intellectual participation that would qualify him as an author under the social security system. The court upheld the original ruling, which required Allary editions to pay URSSAF Île-de-France 239,016 € in social security contributions and 25,187 € in late fees. Additionally, the company was ordered to pay 2,000 € to URSSAF Île-de-France and 2,000 € to the Primary Health Insurance Fund. The Court of Cassation based its decision on Article R. 382-2 of the Social Security Code, which states that editors-in-chief are not automatically included in the artists and authors regime unless their work clearly qualifies them as authors or co-authors. Lawyer Stéphanie Le Cam highlighted that the ruling underscores the importance of cultural industries adhering to labor laws. The artists and authors regime typically offers less protection than the employee regime, including no access to unemployment benefits. While the decision reinforces the need for clearer classification of roles in the creative sector, it does not resolve all outstanding questions. Some uncertainties remain regarding the conditions under which the direction of a collection can be remunerated under the artists and authors regime.