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A case over public access to 3D scans of Auguste Rodin’s sculptures has reached France’s Conseil d’État, according to plaintiff and writer Cosmo Wenman. A Paris administrative court ordered the museum and Culture Ministry in December 2023 to release scans in certain formats, but Wenman says the institutions did not comply and that the court excluded point-cloud files. The supplied report does not include the Conseil d’État’s final decision, so the title’s reference to a “verdict” is not substantiated by the material provided.
A dispute over public access to 3D scans of Auguste Rodin’s sculptures is before France’s Conseil d’État, according to writer and plaintiff Cosmo Wenman, who says he appealed a 2023 ruling that treated some point-cloud files differently from other scan formats. The material provided does not establish that the top administrative court has issued a verdict; the case concerns whether scans held by the Rodin Museum are administrative documents that must be made public.
Wenman says he began requesting the museum’s sculpture scans in 2017. After the museum declined to provide them, he and civil-rights advocate Alexis Fitzjean Ó Cobhthaigh pursued the matter through France’s access-to-documents process. Wenman reports that the Commission on Access to Administrative Documents (CADA) concluded the scans were administrative documents and should be accessible. That conclusion was an advisory opinion, not a court order.
In 2019, Wenman, Communia, Wikimédia France and La Quadrature du Net brought the dispute to the Paris Administrative Tribunal. The court ruled in December 2023 that 3D scans in certain formats were administrative documents and ordered the museum and Culture Ministry to provide them. It also ordered €1,500 in compensation, according to Wenman’s account. He says the court nevertheless carved out an exception for point-cloud files and that the plaintiffs appealed that part of the ruling to the Conseil d’État in late 2023.
The source for this account is an essay by Wenman, one of the plaintiffs. He alleges that the museum gave inconsistent accounts of its scans and their usability, and says funding applications obtained in a separate records request supported his position. Those allegations are not independently established by the supplied material. The article also does not include the full court rulings, the museum’s response, or any later decision by the Conseil d’État.
Public Access to Rodin’s Digital Records
The case tests how French freedom-of-information rules apply to digital records created by a publicly funded cultural institution. A ruling on whether point-cloud files qualify as administrative documents could affect access not only to Rodin scans but also to similar digitized collections held by public museums.
The dispute also concerns the boundary between public access and the museum’s stated concerns, as described by Wenman, about counterfeiting, commercial interests and intellectual property. The Paris tribunal rejected several arguments against disclosure but distinguished point-cloud files from other formats. That split leaves the scope of the 2023 order central to the appeal—and makes the exact terms of any later decision important for both museums and people seeking to reuse digital heritage materials.
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From Records Request to Appeal
Wenman says his request began in 2017, seeking identification and public access to scans of Rodin sculptures. CADA later advised that the scans fell within the category of administrative documents. The dispute then moved to the Paris Administrative Tribunal, where the plaintiffs sought release of files they said the museum had created or held.
The tribunal’s December 2023 decision was mixed: it ordered disclosure of scans in certain formats and compensation, while excluding point-cloud files, according to Wenman. He says the plaintiffs appealed that exception. His account states that the museum and ministry did not appeal the tribunal’s order but did not comply with it; those claims, and the precise status of compliance, are not independently confirmed by the material provided.
“They didn’t appeal it; they ignored it.”
— Cosmo Wenman, on the institutions’ response to the order
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The Court’s Decision Is Not Supplied
The source material does not report a Conseil d’État verdict, identify a hearing date, or say whether the appeal remains pending. It also does not provide the full text of either court ruling, the museum’s or ministry’s account of compliance, or their responses to Wenman’s allegations about contradictory statements and scan quality.
It is therefore not possible from this material to confirm the current legal status of the appeal or whether any scans have since been released. The source headline refers to a “3D Scan Verdict,” but the text supplied describes a 2023 lower-court ruling and a subsequent appeal, not a final decision by France’s highest administrative court.
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Awaiting the Conseil d’État Outcome
The next key development is a decision or procedural update from the Conseil d’État on the point-cloud exception. Any ruling would clarify whether those files fall within the disclosure order and what remedies or obligations apply to the museum and Culture Ministry.
Until a decision or verified compliance update is available, the case’s outcome should be treated as unresolved on the information provided. The museum and ministry’s positions, the current status of the requested scans, and any later court action remain unreported here.
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Key Questions
Has France’s Conseil d’État issued a verdict?
The supplied source material does not report a Conseil d’État decision. It says an appeal over point-cloud files was filed in late 2023.
What did the Paris court decide in 2023?
According to plaintiff Cosmo Wenman, the Paris Administrative Tribunal ruled in December 2023 that scans in certain formats were administrative documents and ordered the Rodin Museum and Culture Ministry to provide them. Wenman says the court excluded point-cloud files and ordered €1,500 in compensation.
What are point-cloud files?
They are a type of 3D scan data. Wenman describes the Rodin Museum’s files as laser-scanned point clouds in open, plain-text formats. The supplied material does not include an independent technical assessment.
Are the museum’s scans publicly available now?
The source does not confirm whether the scans have been released. Wenman says the museum and ministry did not comply with the 2023 order, but their responses and the current status are not included.
Source: hn
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