[INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY] What if Customs decided to no longer defend your brands in France…

In France, Customs plays an important role in the fight against counterfeiting, particularly through customs withholding. In practice, increasingly brand holders pass off the cost, risk, and responsibility for the fight against counterfeiting of their brands onto the customs administration. Customs often serves as a relay for economic entities, when they don’t want to take…

Decision of the French Constitutional Court number 2016-591 QPC of 21 October 2016 ‘Mrs Helen S’, Trusts & Trustees, Volume 22, Issue 10

Introduction The French Constitutional Court was requested to answer a priority constitutional question (QPC) by the French State Council (Order number 400913) on 22 July 2016. The QPC was asked by Mrs Helen S as to the constitutionality of the second line of Article 1649 AB of the French tax code, as amended by Act…

[NEGOTIATION] To Negotiate, but How? The Example of Cross-border Intellectual Property Disputes from a French Perspective

I. Introduction      In order to resolve cross-border intellectual property (IP) disputes, French companies are increasingly trying to reach amicable settlements by negotiation, whether with or without the support of a mediator, before having recourse to state courts or arbitration. The reason for this lies both, in the specific nature of IP, that always involves…