France – New law adopted to “Strengthen the Fight Against Counterfeiting”

The French Parliament has passed a new Law No 2014-315 (11 March 2014) “Strengthening the Fight Against Counterfeiting” which entered into force on 13 March 2014. The law is an extension of the Law No 2007-1544 “Relating to the Fight Against Counterfeiting” of October 29, 2007 and aims to complete, reinforce and clarify the French legislative arsenal against counterfeiting in compliance with EU rules.

The new Law makes substantial improvements with regard to the assessment of the damages for infringement, procedural means in infringement proceedings before French courts, as well as customs’ powers.

The Law:

• Improves the assessment of damages awarded to IP rights owners in infringement proceedings;
• Standardizes the limitation period of 5 years for all IP rights;
• Clarifies and extends the scope of ‘right to information’ injunctions;
• Expands  the powers granted to the judge hearing a counterfeiting action; and
• Reinforces Customs’ means of action by:

o Extending Customs’ withholding measures to all IP rights; and
o Extending Customs’ means of action regarding goods carried by postal services;

For details of the new law, please see the Legal Alert: France: new law adopted to “Strengthen the Fight Against Counterfeiting” prepared by Virginie Ulmann, Nathalie Marchand and Frédérique Fontaine of the Baker & McKenzie IP practice in Paris. The Legal Alert is also available in French.