3rd chamber – Intellectual property

11/01/2022 - mise à jour : 12/01/2022

(version française / french version)

Salle d'audience de la 3ème chambre civile

The 3rd chamber of the First Instance Court of Paris is made up of three sub-divisions. In 2020, 1.082 new cases were brought before the Court, which issued 1.235 decisions. As of 31st December 2020, 1.200 cases are still being processed. Statistic data here.

Jurisdiction areas

The 3rd chamber examines disputes regarding:

  • Patents, supplementary protection certificates, utility certificates (exclusive national jurisdiction)
  • Trademarks (exclusive national jurisdiction for EU trademarks and shared jurisdiction with 10 other specialised courts for french trademarks)
  • Designs (national jurisdiction for Community titles and and shared jurisdiction with 10 other specialised courts for french titles)
  • Literary and artistic property (shared jurisdiction with 10 other specialised courts)
  • Plant variety (shared jurisdiction with 10 other specialised courts)
  • Unfair competition related to an action on intellectual property rights
  • Contracts when it is necessary to rule on an intellectual property right

Judgments and orders handed

A selection of judgments and orders handed down by the 3rd chamber relating to patents, trademarks, designs and literary and artistic property have been made available on the website LEGIFRANCE under the heading « Judicial case law – first instance court ».

A selection of press releases about the 3rd chamber decisions may be found in this section.

Proceedings

The representation of the parties, plaintiffs and defendant, is mandatory.

Ex-parte application (search and seizure orders)

Applications may be filed exclusively through a member of the Paris bar, every working day between 11:30am and 12:30pm at the 3rd chamber registry office (office l36.13 and I36.16 of the 36th Floor of the IGH – Lift IGH Nord). The judge will not hear oral arguments when deciding whether to grant the application.

Filing a claim

  • From the 1st of July 2021, in accordance with article 751 of the French Code of Civil Procedure, is required for the service of an initial claim a return date which can be obtained online through the e-Bar system (third party interventions do not require a return date);
  • Return dates for emergency claims (article 840 of the French Code of Civil Procedure) and fast-track claims (article 839 of the French Code of Civil Procedure) must be obtained through the Court’s registry office (except during holidays);
  • For summary proceedings (référé), the registry located on the 6th floor of the Court house (S06.20) will handle requests for a return date;
  • Applications to set-aside an ex-parte order must be filed through the 3rd chamber’s registry office (l36.13 and l36.16), even if the order was not signed by a judge of the 3rd chamber. 

Case management proceedings

Case management proceedings (mise en état) are now entirely electronic, and communications with the case management judge (juge de la mise en état) are carried out exclusively via the e-Bar system.

Meetings with the judge are granted on a written motivated request made at least 8 days before the hearing, which usually take place in the courtroom 6.42.

Orientation conferences (article 776 of the French Code of Civil Procedure) will take place from November 2021, at the date and place provided for in the electronic receipt.

Submission of bundles for hearing

Bundles of documents for the Court must be submitted at the central registry (SAUJ) 15 days before the hearing, together with a USB key containing the documents in electronic format and the final pleading of the parties.

News

Links to articles:

 

(version française / french version)