In our time of digital communication, the pictograms, these basic symbols conveying universally recognized and fully understood information, also intend to be used as a badge of origin. But can these simple and meaningful signs be perceived as identifying the commercial origin of the products or services offered? According to the law and case law, pictograms indicating a mode of use, or that...
That’s right! This is France and France is known worldwide (at least we French people like to think so) for its contributions to the arts, its intellectual creations, its original productions. Yet we are talking about copyright protection claimed over a portal, a front gate. In 2012, a portal manufacturer filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement claiming another company had a portal made based...
The EU law precludes (i) the taste of a food product from being protected by copyright and (ii) national legislation from being interpreted in such a way that it grants copyright protection to such a taste. The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU, Grand Chamber, 13 Nov. 2018, case C-310/17, Levola Hengelo BV v Smilde Foods BV) sounds the death knell of copyright...
This article is the transcription of a presentation by Manuel ROCHE, Industrial property attorney and President of the International Relations Committee of the CNCPI (the French Patent and Trademark Attorneys Institute), during the international symposium “Paris, European hub for business, digital, IP and tech law” which took place the 11th of October 2018, at the Tribunal de grande instance de...
The layout of a retail store, even more if it is a flagship store or a franchise store, often created by a designer or an architect, may be protected in France by copyright if the originality of the store design is recognized by the courts. Such is the case of the franchised hair salons Shampoo, given their characteristics detailed by the Court of Appeal of Douai (April 5, 2018, Case 17/03809)....
Early June 2018, the European Union has initiated proceedings before the World Trade Organisation against China for failing to respect the intellectual property rights of European companies. Observing that “European companies coming to China are forced to grant ownership or usage rights of their technology to domestic Chinese entities and are deprived of the ability to freely negotiate...
In 2014, we told you about the surprising case of photographer David J. Slater and the famous Monkey Selfies (here). David Slater had filed a take-down request to remove from Wikimedia the photographs he had brought back from Indonesia. At that time, Wikimedia rejected the request considering that the photographs were taken by monkeys, crested black macaques, and that no copyright could subsist...
What do an animal protection society and associations promoting natural filiation and lobbying against same-sex marriage have in common? According to the First Instance Court of Paris, they share advertising campaigns with the same concept (judgment of 23 November 2017, 3rd chamber, 4th section). However, it was not because of a mutual decision or by mere chance but because the latter tried to...
[INSCRIPTA] is proud to be an official partner of Paris Chamber of Commerce for the next International Business Meetings taking place 27 November 2017 in Paris. The event is dedicated to helping companies expand their business overseas by meeting experts on various international matters. [INSCRIPTA] will be hosting a workshop on: Intellectual Property and Online Business Keys to international...
CNCPI Workshop is the annual event intended to businesses and individuals to increase information and promote public awareness on intellectual property issues. The French Patent and Trademark Attorneys Institute (CNCPI), will organize the 2017 workshop on 7 November 2017 in several major French cities on the topic: "Digital Business and IP". It will address all necessary and useful legal advice...
The French Cour de cassation, the highest civil court in France, recently issued a decision about how a concept can be protected through intellectual property rights. It is interesting to study this decision to be reminded that, although it is not impossible, protecting a concept can prove difficult. The important thing is to anticipate the obstacles to adopt the right strategy (see also our...
If there are at least 7 differences between two designs, there is no counterfeiting. Wrong! The designs are compared according to their similarities and the overall impression they produce on an informed user. If the overall impressions are the same, copying or infringement may be recognized. If they differ from each other, the first registered design is not infringed. There is thus no...
A few months ago, we commented the judgment of the Court of First instance of Paris of 29 January 2016 which denied copyright protection to promotional pictures of flowers published on an e-commerce web site because of their lack of originality (here). Before the Court of Appeals of Paris, the claim for copyright infringement was dropped, the appellant focusing its complaint on the notion of...
Although they do not provide any legal protection, Soleau envelopes, named after their inventor, are a low-cost way of ascertaining the date of one’s creations in France. Until now, creations were to be carefully described in two identical copies each of them respectively placed in both compartments of a Soleau envelope. Once it was sealed and registered before the INPI (French PTO) through a...
He did try before the French courts… and failed. Over the past years, [INSCRIPTA] published several articles and news about colourful copyright cases. There were rather intellectual cases like the one involving William Faulkner and Woody Allen's movie “Midnight in Paris” (here), some other were merrier like the ones about the Happy Birthday song (here and here). There even was a case involving...
Last year, we commented decision by US District Judge George H. King according to which Warner/Chappell Music Inc. could not claim copyright ownership over the lyrics from the famous song Happy Birthday. Technically, it did not mean that the lyrics were in the public domain. It only meant that Warner/Chappell did not own a valid copyright in them. As a consequence, Warner/Chappell was being sued...
Does copyright apply to promotional pictures of e-commerce web sites? The question is a real issue considering the growing number of e-commerce web sites and the huge content of pictures made available on such web sites to represent and promote purchasable goods. Copyright, or author’s right according to the French doctrine or definition, may exist over works that reflect the author’s...
In a dispute between the French online sales company Vente-privee.com and the owner of the trademark CECILE DE ROSTAND for leather goods, household linen and clothing, differences between trademark and trade name natures and functions have been underlined by the First instance Court of Nanterre (1). Vente-privee.com, in order to obtain the nullity of the trademark which is the name of the...
Maybe you read or heard these last couple of weeks that lyrics from the Happy Birthday song were in the public domain. Well, that is not entirely true. Actually what said US District Judge George H. King on 22 September 2015 is that Warner/Chappell Music Inc. could not claim copyright ownership over the lyrics from the famous song. You would agree this is a bit different. It was not disputed...
A very recent decision issued by the French highest civil Court accepts that copyright may be limited to ensure protection of the right to artistic freedom. A painter had reproduced three photographs into his paintings, without requesting prior authorization from the photographer. Before the Court of Appeals of Paris, the painter was condemned for infringing the photographer’s copyright and...
Last March 16, French Minister of Culture and Communication Fleur Pellerin posted on Twitter a photograph reproducing paintings by French artist Pierre Bonnard, apparently taken with her smartphone whilst visiting an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris (1). Some people immediately criticized her for not having observed the numerous signs in the museum prohibiting photographs by visitors. On...
Everybody knows by now what dreadful and terrible events occurred in France last January 7. And many people worldwide also know about the phrase adopted by supporters of such French republican values as freedom of speech or secularism. This slogan is JE SUIS CHARLIE - I AM CHARLIE. It seems there is no debate over who “invented” or came up with this phrase in the first place. It is commonly...
By governmental order No.2014-1348 of 12 November 2014, entered into force on the 1st December 2014, the French Intellectual Property Code has been modified as regards publishing contracts. The main purpose of the modifications is to adapt the rules related to publishing contracts to the digital era. As a consequence, French law now provides that the publishing contract is made to frame and...
The French Intellectual Property Code provides that performance, publishing and audiovisual production contracts must be in writing (Article L.131-2). In addition, “transfer of authors’ rights shall be subject to each of the assigned rights being separately mentioned in the instrument of assignment and the field of exploitation of the assigned rights being defined as to its scope and purpose, as...
As you may know, protecting a concept in France is not an easy task, mainly because a concept is a general notion or idea and because abstract ideas cannot be protected by copyright and even less by industrial property titles such as patents, trademarks or designs. Of course, even if a concept cannot be legally protected by itself or for itself, you can still achieve legal protection through...
French Tribunal des conflits, arbitrating whether a case must be heard before judicial or administrative courts, has just ruled that judicial courts have exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving the liability of public entities as long as intellectual property law or intellectual property rights are concerned. A French photographer had filed a complaint against a French administrative...
Reviewing and modernising the EU copyright legislative framework by 2015, these are the stated objectives set by the European Commission through its declaration of 12 December 2012 (*). The effort focuses on the territoriality in the Internal Market, the harmonisation, the limitations and exceptions to copyright in the digital age, the fragmentation of the EU copyright market, as well as the...
Considering the worldwide press coverage of the last few weeks, it is difficult not to have heard about the monkey selfie case opposing wildlife British photographer David J. Slater (1) to Wikipedia’s Wikimedia web site about who shall be the owner of the copyright over the monkey selfies taken while Slater was on Sulawesi Island in Indonesia. After following and shadowing a group of Crested...
We recently commented on the new French law of 11 March 2014 aiming to fight against the infringement of intellectual and industrial property rights (1). With that law, France has taken a major step forward and must clearly be considered as one of the most advanced country as regards the protection for IP rights. It seems that the Cour de cassation, which is the highest French civil court, has...
Creating a web site requires functional, technical and even esthetic qualities. But is it enough to consider all web sites may be protected by copyright? The Court of Appeals of Rennes (in Brittany, France) has just decided it does not. In its judgment dated 13 May 2014, the Court dismissed the action brought against her former employer (a web design agency) by a computer graphics designer who...
[INSCRIPTA] has been interviewed by French magazine "Informations Entreprise" as part of a dossier dedicated to intellectual and industrial property and French Patent and Trademark Attorneys. Founding partners of [INSCRIPTA] Agnès DOYEN and Manuel ROCHE were given the opportunity to explain how they view their work and to remind that building a strategy for protection and defense of intellectual...
The new French law of 11 March 2014 reinforces the IP rights holder’s means of action against alleged infringers. In this respect, the customs often play a decisive role, since the customs detentions allow IP rights owners to block the counterfeiting goods, but also to obtain information relating to the counterfeiting networks. 1. Transhipment Transhipment of goods has been considered as an act...
The new French law aims to fight against counterfeit products and the infringement of intellectual and industrial property rights. The bill, which we commented last December (1), has been approved very fast and very easily, with almost no opposition or disagreement among the members of Parliament. We decided to focus our attention on some of the main provisions of the new law which amends the...
On December 10, 2013, French Cour de cassation (Civil Supreme Court) once again refused to admit that a fragrance could be protected by copyright (Cour de cassation, commercial section, 10 December 2013). In 2006, the Court had already decided that a fragrance could not be considered as an original creation because it was the result of the implementation of a specific know-how (Cour de...
Invalidity proceedings of a Community design filed before the OHIM can be based on absolute grounds (when the design does not fulfil the requirements of validity) or on relative grounds (in case of an infringement of prior rights). According to the Regulation on Community designs (1), the holder of prior rights thus has two possible grounds for such an action. Article 25(1)(b). Invalidation...
In October 2007, France adopted a very important law to fight against counterfeit products and the infringement of intellectual and industrial property rights. This law was the French transposition of Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The new rules were globally acclaimed at first but it...
In France, copyright is granted to original works or, as the French Courts say, to works of the mind that bear the stamp of their author’s personality. But you do not just claim that a work is original. To benefit from copyright protection, you need to show how and why a specific work should be deemed original, to show what original features it bears. Otherwise, your copyright infringement...
In France, the enforcement of IP rights is based on the first-to-file principle when in Common Law countries, the IP system is based on the first-to-invent or first-to-use principle. To warn the public of the existence or registration of trademarks, designs, patents or copyrights or to enforce those rights and obtain damages in case of infringement, the IP rights have to be filed and registered...
French famous comedian and actor Coluche (Michel Colucci) died in 1986 shortly after initiating and founding the “Restos du Cœur” (literally Restaurants of the Heart), a charity which collects food, money and clothes for the needy and the homeless. His portrait became the symbol of the charity. Almost thirty years afterwards, a few weeks ago, the photographer Gaston Bergeret who made the...
In the movie, the main character played by Owen Wilson says: “The past is not dead! Actually, it's not even past. You know who said that? Faulkner. And he was right. And I met him, too. I ran into him at a dinner party”. The nine-word sentence was extracted from William Faulkner’s “Requiem for a Nun”. More precisely, Faulkner wrote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” His estate,...
The European Court of Human Rights recently declared inadmissible the complaint filed by two founding members of the website The Pirate Bay that their convictions for copyright infringement by Swedish courts interfered with their right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Convention (ECHR, 19 February 2013, Fredrik NEIJ and Peter SUNDE KOLMISOPPI against Sweden, Application...
INSCRIPTA, French and European Trademark Attorneys law firm, is pleased to announce its official opening, after several weeks of preparation. Our firm welcomes you in Paris, France, at 10 rue d'Aumale in the ninth arrondissement. INSCRIPTA shares its offices with an Attorney at Law firm and wants to be your partner of choice for every legal aspect of your business related to intellectual and...