WHAT? You can't take a picture of a public place in France and own (or release) the copyright?
Here's a funny one: in France, the Eiffel Tower copyright has expired; however, courts have deemed that the lighting display on the tower is a protected work, still copyrighted. Meaning you are allowed to publish pictures of the Eiffel Tower taken at day, but not at night -- unless you have permission. [1]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_panorama#European_U...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower#Image_copyright_c...
Thinking in US terms, it sounds like the argument that if you take a picture of your kids with a building in the background, the picture is a derivative work of the building's architect. Madness.