France.com Inc. V. GIE (FR)

Court

French Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation)

Our Position

The Court of Cassation should disregard the Paris Court of Appeal’s reasoning that the French state has an earlier and exclusive right to the name “France”, equivalent to the right that persons have to their names. INTA believes that the fundamental principles of public international law do not recognize an exclusive right of states to geographic terms, including country names, which are registrable under the Paris Convention and the TRIPS Agreement. By making an analogy between the name of a country and the surname of a natural person, INTA believes that the Paris Court of Appeal adopted a position in law that contradicts such fundamental principles.

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