[LABOUR LAW] More flexibility in reducing workforce through collective agreement termination

The recent reform of French labour law provides a number of simplifications for companies to reduce their workforce. One of these reforms consists of a so-called collective termination agreement, without any justification for economic reasons within the meaning of the provisions on termination for economic reasons. In particular, the collective agreement is not subject to…

[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…

[ARBITRATION] The fate of multi-tiered arbitration clauses – welcome clarification of the consequences of a lack of compliance with multi-tiered arbitration clauses in Germany and in France

Whereas multi-tiered arbitration clauses used to be rather exceptional two decades ago, they are increasingly used nowadays and can be found in a large number of contracts. These clauses aim to meet the growing need for the reduction of time and costs by foreseeing arbitration only as a last means in case the previous proceedings…

[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…

[ENERGY] Financing of renewable energies: a false start for citizens’ investment?

A fact that has already been established for several years is unrelenting: whereas renewable energies have never been as popular among the French1 and although the government has declared ambitious targets for 2030, the large majority of projects concerning electricity or biogas production systems using renewable energy sources (“RE projects”) are challenged in court, thus…