Region: France

It is now a year since James Pooley, then the deputy director for innovation and technology at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), made a series of explosive allegations about the UN agency’s Director General Francis Gurry. Detailed…

10 April 2015

Last 5th November, James Bessen and Michael Meurer wrote an article for the Boston Globe in which they claimed that patent trolls sponsored by foreign governments were emerging as a serious threat to American businesses; and that this was another…

05 April 2015

IAM can reveal that Alcatel-Lucent has implemented a round of lay-offs inside its IP department. Among those departing are Craig Thompson, senior vice president of IP, and Ozer Teitelbaum, the company’s director of IP strategy. We understand that…

24 February 2015

China’s desperate need for more IP strategy expertise is an issue that this blog has addressed on several occasions previously. A story IAM heard from a senior IP executive at a Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturer last week drives the point home.…

05 February 2015

Private equity firm Vector Capital has filed suit against Technicolor over allegations that the French company manipulated shareholder voting. This is the latest development in a long running dispute between the two over the future of Technicolor&…

23 January 2015

The much-debated 2009 anti-piracy law established a three-strikes system to punish persistent offenders who illegally downloaded, consulted or distributed works online. However, the French government recently decided to abandon the policy set out under the law that threatened persistent offenders with internet disconnection.

16 October 2013

Several French cities, including Deauville and Paris, have recently taken legal action against the commercial use of their names and their registration as trademarks. Most recently, the town of Laguiole found out the hard way how important trademark protection can be.

23 January 2013

The French system of <i>droit d'auteur</i> is often criticised as being overly favourable to authors and for its unsuitability for the protection and exploitation of works in a business environment. However, the traditional, individualistic concept of copyright is losing ground in favour of a more pragmatic, business-friendly approach. A recent Supreme Court decision illustrates this evolution.

25 July 2012

France's implementation of the EU IP Rights Enforcement Directive led to some criticism regarding the fact that French legislation was undermined by procedural issues taking over in court. The Supreme Court recently demonstrated that the courts have made progress regarding these issues in a decision regarding the application of the right to information contained in the IP Code.

25 April 2012

Trademark infringement claims are often followed by counterclaims for revocation or invalidity of the claimant’s trademark, which may have devastating consequences if improperly anticipated. French construction group Eiffage learnt this expensive lesson in a recent ruling from the Bordeaux Court of Appeal.

22 June 2011