FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Céline Bey and Alexis Augustin, Gowling WLG
As for the Supreme Court, only issues of law can be examined (Article 604, CPC). According to the UPCA, an appeal may be based on points of law and matters of fact. Requests, facts and evidence which have not been sub- mitted by a party during proceedings before the court of first instance may be disregarded by the Court of Appeal. Ruling on their introduction, the Court of Appeal takes into account whether the party seeking to lodge new submissions is able to show that they could not reasonably have been made during proceedings before the court of first instance. The relevance of the new sub- missions for the decision on the appeal and the position of the other party regarding this matter is also considered. Costs arising before filing a lawsuit are essential- ly those of the lawyers, patent attorneys, experts and bailiffs, which are needed for collecting rel- evant information and evidence, assessing the merits of the case and engaging in pre-litigation actions (for instance, issuing warning letters, saisie-contrefaçon ) and conducting the pro- ceedings. 8.2 Calculation of Court Fees There are no court fees to commence proceed- ings before French courts. However, the filing of an appeal is subject to the payment of EUR225. Actions before the UPC have fixed court fees, for example: • EUR20,000 for revocation actions; and 8. Costs 8.1 Costs Before Filing a Lawsuit
• EUR11,000 for infringement actions, declara- tions of non-infringement, application and appeal as to provisional measures. Moreover, additional value-based court fees, assessed by the claimant, shall be paid at the same time. Their amount varies from EUR0 to EUR325,000. 8.3 Responsibility for Paying the Costs of Litigation Under Article 700 of the CPC, the prevailing par- ty can request that the losing party pay the legal costs incurred by the proceedings. Such awards may cover fees relating to attorneys-at-law, pat- ent attorneys, experts and bailiffs. To do so, the winning party usually produces an exhibit prov- ing the total amount of costs incurred. In any case, there are no separate proceedings relating to recovery of costs. Regarding the UPC, reasonable and propor- tionate legal costs and other expenses incurred by the successful party shall be borne by the unsuccessful party, unless equity requires other- wise, up to a ceiling adopted by the Administra- tive Committee by reference to the value of the proceedings. The table of recoverable court fees published on 24 April 2023 provides that such fees could amount to EUR38,000 for proceedings with a value equal to or above EUR250,000 and are capped at EUR2 million for proceedings with a value of more than EUR50 million.
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