An interesting decision of the French Supreme Court was issued on October 14th. A natural person had filed a French trademark on behalf of a company in the process of being formed and this company was not incorporated.
The plaintiff, however, brought an action for infringement on the ground of this trademark in a personal capacity.
The Court of Appeal denied him this right since no change had been made to his benefit in the national register of marks.
The Supreme Court overturned this decision, which it considers to be in violation of article 31 of the Code of Civil Procedure. As the company was not incorporated, the plaintiff never ceased to be the owner of the registered trademark and therefore had an interest in acting on its ground.
