The ten commandments: Élie Chouraqui dismissed by the courts after his complaint against Pascal Obispo

At the beginning of October, Élie Chouraqui had sued the production company of the musical The Ten Commandments - The Desire to Love, as well as Pascal Obispo and the co-authors of the show, for “copyright infringement”, “counterfeiting trademark”, “parasitism” and “unfair competition”.

Today in rehearsal, the show contains songs from the musical The Ten Commandments, the most beautiful story of all time created in 2000 by Élie Chouraqui with, among others, Pascal Obispo and the choreographer Kamel Ouali.

In its decision, rendered after a hearing on December 7, the Paris court dismissed Élie Chouraqui's requests, “based on unfair competition and parasitism”. And orders him to pay 10,000 euros to Obispo's production company in damages for acts of denigration, as well as 30,000 euros in procedural costs to several co-authors of the 2000 musical, also assigned (Albert Cohen, co-producer, Patrice Guirao and Lionel Florence for the song lyrics).

“The decision rendered by the court is incomplete, incoherent and incomprehensible,” Charles Morel, lawyer for Élie Chouraqui, told AFP. “We were saying: we have a musical that’s a collaborative work. Part of it cannot be used without permission from the co-authors. The court did not answer this essential question, he added. We will most likely appeal the decision.”

The show is due to begin its tour on March 9 in Épernay (Marne). Pascal Obispo explained in September in the columns of Paris Match that he had “dusted off” the story and added new titles.