NATIONAL LAW IMPLEMENTING THE ENFORCEMENT DIRECTIVE
A. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY LAW
The Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 (the “Enforcement Directive” or “IPRED”) on the enforcement of intellectual property rights was implemented in different provisions of the French Intellectual Property Code (the “French IP Code”) pursuant to the law 2007–1544 of October 29, 2007 on the fi ght against counterfeiting.
Since 2007, the French IP Code has been subject to different amendments, particularly the law 2014–315 of March 11, 2014, which reinforced the dispositions of the law 2007–1544. All IP rights provisions are consolidated in the French IP Code.
B. TRANSPOSITION ISSUES
At the time of implementation, the legislator concluded that French law satisfied the requirements of the IPRED to a large extent. However, national law lacked provisions that corresponded to certain measures, such as the calculation of damages and the right to information.
C. ASSESSMENT REPORTS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION
The French Senate issued a report on February 9, 2011 analysing the effects of the implementation and concluding with 18 recommendations. This report resulted in the law of March 11, 2014. The recommendations can essentially be summarized as follows:
– Jurisdiction, courts and judges specialisation: 4 or 5 IP courts should be sufficient, importance of the specialisation of the judges.
– Damages: the law should be modified to clearly indicate that all benefi ts resulting from the infringing acts committed by the infringing party should be granted to the rightholder.
– Right to information: the law should be modified to indicate that right to information can be used before the decision on the merits during an interim proceeding. The limitative list of documents or information that the judge may order to be communicated pursuant to the right to information should be deleted in order to avoid a restrictive interpretation.
– Evidence: It should be provided that in the context of an infringement seizure, the bailiff may proceed to a simple detailed description of the materials and instruments used to produce or distribute the infringing goods.