You may have heard that French revolutions have a reputation for violence. But things do not always have to be that way. Case in point: a groundbreaking SPC ruling recently issued by the Paris Cour d’appel. Contrary to what you would expect, heads did not roll. Quite the opposite in fact: the revolution is precisely that the SPC at stake survived unscathed. Lionel Vial reports. This is it. It has happened. The Paris Cour d’appel has finally reversed a decision of the French PTO (INPI) to refuse an SPC. Indeed, as noted here, since we began discussing French SPC case law on this blog in 2016, t ..read more

Long time no see! I am sure that readers have noticed that PatentMyFrench has been dormant over the past few months. Hopefully, posting can resume in the near future, so as to perhaps tackle the backlog of interesting decisions that have not been commented on – but let’s face it, we are not there yet. That said, owing to regular contributor and SPC enthusiast Lionel Vial, the blog at least temporarily comes back to life today, for an update on Halozyme’s mishaps with the French patent office. Many thanks Lionel, the floor is yours. We had a feeling of déjà-vu with this decision of the Paris Co ..read more

The summer was relatively quiet – patent case law-wise, that is. Thus, now may be a good time to go back on some interesting decisions issued during the first semester which I did not have time to comment upon. In particular, and just in case you missed it a couple of months ago, I would like to showcase a procedural ruling issued by a case management judge, which addresses the evolution of the statute of limitations (for infringement claims) over time. The lawsuit revolves around telecommunications equipment that was supplied by Alcatel-Lucent International to Orange SA, under a 2007 agreemen ..read more

I have always been fascinated by the longevity of some soap operas. As a teenager, I have memories of holidays at my grandparents’, with The Young and the Restless on TV. This show has been airing in the U.S. since 1973 and has recently reached its 12,000th episode milestone. (Un)fortunately for French viewers, the story started for them at episode 3,263 only. Anyway, sooner or later, even the oldest shows come to end. After 54 years of broadcasting, As the World Turns stopped in 2010. As I have already mentioned a couple of times on this blog, one of the oddities of French patent litigation i ..read more

Once in a while, a complex and long-lasting patent case gives rise to a simple and straightforward ruling. Only longtime readers having an exceptional memory will remember that, a few years ago, I reported on a first cassation ruling in a Time Sport International v. Décathlon France et al. case. This ruling dealt with a priority issue. It turns out that another cassation ruling has recently been issued in the same litigation. So this is one of these few never-ending cases in which the judiciary pingpong seems to go on eternally. Is it a bug or a feature of the French legal system? We may never ..read more