France

Case Law, France, Patents

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February 1st, 2023, the French Supreme Court (“Cour de Cassation”) ascertained that during a saisie-contrefaçon trade secrets can only be protected by a temporary sequestration provided for in the order authorizing the saisie. Teoxane (“Teoxane”) is the owner of a European patent, the revocation of which Laboratoires Vivacy (“Vivacy”) sought by a summons filed on…

Case Law, France, SPC

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“Jamais deux sans trois”. The French Supreme Court (“Cour de Cassation”) has issued no less than seven decisions relating to SPCs on February 1st, 2023. After having reported the two relating to the interpretation of article 3 a) of the SPC Regulation last week (nivolumab and pembrolizumab cases), I will report today a decision rendered…

Case Law, France, SPC

(Dhenne Avocats)/ /1 Comment

In two decisions rendered on February 1st, 2023, the French Supreme Court (“Cour de cassation”) overturned the decisions of the Paris Court of Appeal which had confirmed the rejections by the French PTO (“INPI”) of the supplementary protection certificate (“SPC”) applications for nivolumab and pembrolizumab. On this occasion, the Supreme Court clarified the interpretation of…

Case Law, France, Patents

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In two decisions rendered on January 11, 2023, the French Supreme Court (“Cour de cassation”) ruled for the third time in almost 50 years on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions. As we will see, in doing so the Supreme Court seems to follow the “Hitachi” approach used at the European Patent Office in this field….

France, Patents

(Dhenne Avocats)/

Article 124, III of the so-called “PACTE” Law enshrines the disappearance of the statute of limitations for revocation actions concerning industrial property titles. It was intended to put an end to the previous case law, which was thus disproved, applying the five-year limitation period of Article 2224 of the Civil Code to these actions, notably…

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, France, FRAND, Injunction, SEP

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I won’t go into the numerous litigations involving OPPO around the world, nor will I comment on the decisions rendered by the German Courts since this summer. What interests me is the unprecedented attitude of OPPO in these proceedings – which withdrew its products from the German market even before any injunction was enforced –,…

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, Covid-19, France, Litigation, Patents, Pharmaceutical patent

(Dhenne Avocats)/ /7 Comments

The news was announced last week: Moderna is suing Pfizer for infringement of two of its patents related to Covid-19 vaccines. These highly targeted actions are likely to spread to many other countries: here is a brief overview of the case and its potential French perspective. In a press release dated August 26, 2022, Moderna…

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, France, UPC

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In a decision dated June 29, 2022, the Cour de cassation (French Supreme Court) overturned the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal (Paris, November 24, 2020) which refused to assess acts of infringement committed abroad. The decision of the Supreme Court, which merely applies classical rules of private international law, leads one to wonder…

Antibodies, Biologics, France, Pharma, Pharmaceutical patent, SPC

(Dhenne Avocats)/ /1 Comment

25 May 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal overturned the refusal of the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) to grant an SPC on avelumab. This is a reversal of the “nivolumab” case law on the interpretation of Article 3(a) of Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 (hereafter the SPC Regulation).   In this case, Dana-Farber…

France, Injunction, Patents

(Dhenne Avocats)/ /7 Comments

In a decision of 3 June 2022, opposing NOVARTIS and BIOGARAN, the Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris accepted the admissibility of a request for provisional measures based on a European patent application. This solution, however surprising it may seem at first sight, could nevertheless be justified. The decision under review is an order rendered in a…