A French court gave Renoir's assistant Richard Guino co-authorship of the Renoir sculptures in 1973; his heirs won a US infringement verdict against Renoir's great-grandson in 2008

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was crippled by arthritis. The sculptures published under his name between 1913 and 1917 were made with Richard Guino, his assistant. Guino's son sued in 1965 for his father to be recognised as co-author. A Paris court found for Guino in 1971^†, and the French Supreme Court on 13 November 1973 awarded his estate co-authorship and a one-half interest in the works^†. Under a 1982 agreement the Guino family controlled reproduction from plaster casts of the originals, and a trust, Societe Civile Succession Richard Guino, was formed to carry it out. In 1984 it registered the works with the US Copyright Office. In 2003 Jean-Emmanuel Renoir, a great-grandson of the painter, sold sculptures, molds or castings to a Scottsdale, Arizona gallery. The trust sued for copyright infringement. The district court granted summary judgment on infringement, a jury set damages, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed on 9 December 2008. The award was reported as $125,000^†. The court held the works protected until 2043^†, though one report says 2073.