FRANCE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Denis Schertenleib, Marc Lauzeral and Célia Benmesbah, Schertenleib Avocats
In 2024, the French patent litigation market retained its position as one of the leading mar- kets in Europe with a continuous increase in cases lodged in the first instance patent court. Hence, even though the Unified Patent Court (UPC) witnessed an increasing number of cases, this did not impact, as one may have presumed, the number of cases before the French jurisdic- tions. This absence of cases being transferred from the national courts to the UPC is notably due to the uncertainty of the UPC case law given the small number of decisions from the Court of Appeal, while the UPC proceedings do not offer a real alternative as the conduct of French and UPC proceedings is similar. The year 2024 was also marked by the return of the judge Françoise Barutel from the Court of Appeal of the UPC to the Paris Court of Appeal. Civil Procedure in Patent Litigation 2024 was notable for highlighting the strong interplay between civil procedure law and pat- ent litigation. The Territorial Jurisdiction of the French Court for Infringements Committed in the EU but Outside the French Territory Paris Court of Appeal, 11 October 2024, Case No 22/16203, Hutchinson v Tyron Runflat limited Hutchinson was the holder of a European patent (“EP 340”) covering an automotive wheel with an improved inflation system. In July 2018, Hutchinson brought an action before the Paris Court of First Instance for infringement in France, Great Britain and Ger- many of its patent EP 340 against the French companies DAL and L.A.VI, the English com-
pany Tyron Runflat, as well as the South African company Global Wheel. The case management judge, on 27 February 2020, ruled that the Paris Court of First Instance had no jurisdiction regarding the allegedly infringing acts committed in Germany and the UK. On 24 November 2020, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the pre-trial judge’s ruling and declared that the Paris Court of First Instance had no jurisdiction over infringing acts committed out- side the French territory by Tyron Runflat and Global Wheel. The Court of Cassation overturned this deci- sion pursuant to Article 6.1 of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001. In the meantime, Hutchinson withdrew its claim against Global Wheel. The Paris Court of Appeal had, in October 2024, the final say in the matter. The Court ruled that it was in Hutchinson’s inter- est that the judge examined and ruled on the acts allegedly committed in Great Britain and Germany since: • the alleged infringements were about the same national parts of Hutchinson’s European patent EP 340 and the same alleged infring- ing products; and • Hutchinson’s claims were very closely related. Hence, in order to avoid irreconcilable judg- ments, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that the French jurisdictions had jurisdiction over the acts allegedly committed in Great Britain and Germany by the English company Tyron.
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