Nicolas Ferrier

A franchise agreement for the operation, under the name "Moto-Bis", of an outlet specialising in motorcycle equipment was concluded between CYCOM ["the franchisor"] and Starter 84 ["the franchisee"]. Reproaching the franchisor for having, on the occasion of the takeover of the competing network (...)

Two judgments provide an opportunity to revisit the issue of the error of profitability in franchising. In the first case (Cass. com., May 12, 2021, No. 19-17.701), a franchisee sought the nullity of the franchise agreement on the grounds that the operating results were far from the forecasts (...)

In two judgments (on which, see S. Brena, Lettre distr. Mars 2021), the Court of Cassation denied the status of commercial agent to an intermediary without the power to conclude and negotiate the contractual prices and conditions on behalf of his principal. The solutions, which must be put in (...)

In 2004, Tesmec signed a four-year contract with Eurofor for the exclusive distribution of trenchers and spare parts in France, tacitly renewable for the same period. Article 7 of the contract provides that either party may terminate it with one year’s notice before the renewal date, giving real (...)

In 2006 and 2008, the company Talys subscribed, in 2006 and 2008, two contracts of membership to the distribution network of medical products under the name "La Vitrine médicale", constituted by the company Hexa, in order to operate two sales outlets located in Sevrier and Aix-les-Bains. Article (...)

In French law, a commercial agent is a "mandatary who, as an independent profession, without being bound by a contract of lease of services, is permanently responsible for negotiating and, where appropriate, concluding contracts of sale, purchase, lease or provision of services, in the name of (...)

Between 2008 and 2013, X. purchased numerous CHANEL cosmetic products from an approved distributor, which she then resold to a franchisee of the EASY CASH brand, which specialises in the resale of second-hand products. A bailiff’s report established that three series of products acquired from X. (...)

A number of recent decisions call for a review of the obligation on network promoters to assist their distributors faced with economic difficulties. While this issue presents obvious practical challenges, it raises more fundamental questions about the legal approach to contractual (...)

According to Article L. 134-13 of the Commercial Code, the commercial agent loses the right to severance pay provided for in Article L. 134-12 in the event of, inter alia, serious misconduct. The exception raises questions relating in particular to the conditions under which such misconduct, if (...)

The Internet is testing selective distribution networks (see not. L. Vogel, Réseaux contre plates-formes : la distribution sélective à l’épreuve de l’internet, in Études en l’honneur du professeur Jérôme Huet, LGDJ 2017, p. 401), and regularly raises questions about the balance to be struck between, on (...)

The term distribution "network", although common in practice and present in certain provisions (not. com. C., art. L. 146-1; art. L. 330-3 and L. 341-1), is not the subject of any legal definition. The concept remains delicate to grasp, even though it presents real practical issues, (...)

Two recent rulings by the Courts of Appeal of Paris and Aix-en-Provence recall the freedom of selection of the developer of a selective distribution network. In the judgment of 12 December 2018, a distributor (company C.) had been in a relationship with Sony for many years, until the (...)

In eight judgments rendered on the same day (on which, see also N. Ereseo, Lettre distr. oct. 2018), the Court of Cassation largely confirmed the solution rendered by the Court of Appeal of Versailles in a dispute between the promoter of a real estate agency network structured around a (...)

In the context of a dispute between a franchisee under the Spar name and its franchisor, the former, which did not enjoy any territorial exclusivity, terminated the contract, accusing the latter in particular of having breached its duty of loyalty by not informing it of the installation of (...)

The judgment under comment is curious, both in terms of the situation which is its argument and in terms of the solution which it seems to enshrine. The situation was the result of two agreements concluded between a master franchisee and certain franchisees of the network it had created. The (...)

The conference that took place in Lyon on May 28th 2015 dealt with the future of competition law. The speakers of this panel got back to the strong link between unfair competition behaviors against professionals and those against consumers. Particularly, Sarah Bros and François Chénedé got back (...)