Daniel Fasquelle

What was implicit, and has been established in November 2017 by the Court of Justice in the judgment on endives, has been specifically laid down by the European legislator in the omnibus regulation of December 2017: the prohibition on cartels does not apply to producer organizations and (...)

Interview conducted by Jean-Louis Fourgoux, Partner, Fidal, Paris. Daniel Fasquelle, you defended a doctoral thesis on the rule of reason in European competition law before becoming a professor of law and, since 2007, Member of Parliament for Pas-de-Calais. You are also a holder of the CAPA. (...)

Cass. com, March 3, 2009, Société Absolute v/ Société Dipa, n° 08-10.923 Can the new operator of a magazine apply for the liquidation of a periodic penalty payment imposed on its predecessor in order to put an end to an unfair competition practice? This is the question that was put to the judges of (...)

Cass. com, 8 July 2008, ITM alimentaire c/ Ministre de l’économie, n° 07-13.350 Cass. com, 8 July 2008, Minister for the Economy v GALEC, No. 07-16.761 The Court of Cassation has put an end to the uncertainty linked to the power of substitution granted to the Minister of the Economy on the basis (...)

Draft Law on the Modernization of the Economy (restrictive practices) As we conclude this section, in early July 2008, the Economic Modernization Act is still before the Senate. It is possible, however, to identify the main trends in this new reform, at least in its trade relations component. (...)

It has become a classic exercise for the Trade Practices Review Commission (TPRB) to rule on the legality of a charter of good practice of private origin. This time it was PRISME, a body bringing together temporary employment professionals, which referred the matter to the Commission for an (...)

Cass. com, 11 March 2008, Société pluyolaise d’articles chaussants (SPAC) v/ Société Michel Fargeot, No. 07-10.413 The ruling handed down by the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation on 11 March 2008 provides some useful clarifications regarding the basis for the sanctioning of parasitic (...)

On 12 February 2008, Marie-Dominique Hagelsteen presented her report on the negotiability of tariffs and general terms and conditions of sale (see also in this issue the interview with Ms Hagelsteen, under the heading "Interview").. The purpose of this report is to prepare "the implementation (...)

CEPC, Opinion n° 08-02 of 7 February 2008 on practices followed in commercial relations between insurers and body repairers, and its attached charter. The use of codes of conduct to regulate commercial relations is a method used by many States (J. Watin-Augouard, "Codes of conduct: when Europe (...)

INTRODUCTORY WORDS Jean-Patrice DE LAURENCIE Counsel to the Court I. Brief presentation of the law 1. Law No. 2008-3 of 3 January 2008 "for the development of competition in the service of consumers’ (OJ of 4 January 2008, p. 258), already The Chatel law, known as the "Chatel law", has two (...)

Cass. com, 29 January 2008, INBEV v. France boissons, no. 07-13.778. In a ruling handed down on 29 January 2008, the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation, in the context of interim injunction proceedings, had to consider whether a partnership contract was seriously questionable under (...)

Observatoire des pratiques commerciales: 18 months of court decisions available on the site of the Commission d’examen des pratiques commerciales (Report of the Faculty of Law of Montpellier, 2006-2007) The Faculty of Law of Montpellier delivered a new report in the framework of the partnership (...)

Cass. com, 23 October 2007, Transport Norbert Dentressangle v. M. X..., n° 06-14.981 The ruling handed down on 23 October 2007 by the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation is a further illustration of the difficulty of proving the existence of a situation of economic dependence within (...)

Cass. com, June 12, 2007, Stés Bollé Protection and Bushnell Performance Optics Europe v/ Sté Euro Protection, n° 05-17.349, Published in the bulletin A few weeks after the judgment delivered by the First Civil Chamber commented in this review (Cass. 1ère civ., 20 March 2007, M. X... c/ société (...)

In commented opinion No. 07-04 of 14 June 2007, the Commission d’examen des pratiques commerciales (CEPC) attempts to make the link between the tariff differentiation enshrined in Article L. 441-6 of the French Commercial Code (C. com.) of the SME Act of 2 August 2005 and the prohibition of (...)

Cass. com, May 30, 2007, Métropole télévision M6 c/ Sté LPG systems, n° 06-13.880, unpublished The Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation recalled the principles that should govern the determination of the amount of damages due by the perpetrator of a parasitic act in a decision handed down (...)

Cass. soc. 23 May 2007, Mr. X. v. Datacep, No. 05-17.818, published in the bulletin The success of the action in unfair competition presupposes that the victim has established wrongful conduct. The victim must still be able to preserve or establish sufficient evidence. In order to alleviate (...)

Cass. com, May 22, 2007, Sté Innovex -MBO v Sté Arvem, n° 06-13.421, Unpublished According to settled case-law, the massive hiring of employees of a competing undertaking constitutes an act of unfair competition when the latter is intended to disorganise the undertaking (Cass. com., 24 Oct. 2000, (...)

Report of the Faculty of Law of Montpellier on the Application of Title IV of Book IV of the Commercial Code concerning legal actions at the initiative of economic actors: Assessment of criminal (year 2005) and civil (period from 1 January 2004 to the first half of 2006) court decisions The (...)

CEPC, Opinion No. 07-01 of 12 April 2007 on the framework for tariff differentiation as provided for in Article 41 of the Law of 2 August 2005 in favour of SMEs. The Administration is still considering whether it would be advisable to adopt a decree determining the categories of purchasers who (...)

The question of payment periods under competition law has long been raised without a solution having yet been sketched out (see note J.-P. L. L, Concurrences, No 2-2006, p. 106.). However, far from being fatalistic, the Trade Practices Review Commission (TPRB) does not despair of finding a way (...)

In the context of the fight against abusive commercial cooperation, the DGCCRF once again called into question the responsibility of the central purchasing body of the Leclerc centres, GALEC, and obtained the imposition of a civil fine of 200,000 euros (For a precedent: TC Nanterre, 15 Nov. (...)

Cass. 1st civ., 20 March 2007, Mr X... c/ company Compagnie française d’eaux de vie et spiritueux, n° 06-11.522 and 06-11.657 In the absence of protection based on the provisions of the Intellectual Property Code, the question frequently arises as to whether it is possible to act on the basis of (...)

Cass. soc. 7 March 2007, Mrs. X v. Publications Pierre Johanet, No. 05-45.511 Manuals dealing with the non-competition clause ancillary to an employment contract will henceforth have to make provision, as a matter of urgency, for a substantial part of their development to deal with the (...)

Decree No. 2007-257 of 26 February 2007 amending Decree No. 2005-524 of 20 May 2005 establishing the list of agricultural products mentioned in Article L. 441-2-1 of the Commercial Code Bill to regulate payment periods in industrial subcontracting, No. 3627, registered at the Presidency of the (...)

Cass. com, February 20, 2007, Sté Vierzon distribution v/ Minister of the Economy, n° 04-20.449, unpublished In a ruling handed down on 20 February 2007, the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation provided interesting clarifications on the evidence of false commercial cooperation. In this (...)

Cass. com, January 23, 2007, Streck Diffusion v/ société La Redoute, n° 04-16.779 The ruling handed down on 23 January 2007 by the Court of Cassation illustrates the difficulty of reconciling the guiding principles of civil procedure with the exorbitant prerogatives of ordinary law granted to the (...)

DGCCRF, Application du Titre IV du Livre IV du code de commerce - Actions en justice du ministre de l’Économie, Bilan des décisions judiciaires pénales (année 2005) et civiles (période : 1er janvier 2004-1er semestre 2006) 20 December 2006 In the area of restrictive competition practices, where (...)

Cass. com, December 12, 2006, Diramode et Promotion du prêt-à-porter c/ société Jennyfer, n° 05-18.988 Cass. com, February 20, 2007, Wirquin c/ société Sanitaire accessoires services, n° 05-16.683 Cass. com, February 20, 2007, Patrelle c/ Euro Confi company, n° 05-17.004 The ruling handed down by the (...)

Criminal Case, 6 December 2006, SCA Centre, No. 06-82.834. In a ruling handed down on 6 December 2006, the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation gave an extensive interpretation of the formal requirements imposed by Article L. 441-6 al. 5 C. com. which are nevertheless criminally (...)

Cass. 1st civ. 5 December 2006, Cabinet d’études conseils diagnostics (CECD) and a. c/ Amrane Immobilier Expertise (AIE), n° 05-17.710 Defamation must be distinguished from disparagement. While the former refers to any attack on the honour or reputation of a natural person or legal entity, the (...)

CA Paris, 5ème ch. A, 8 March 2006, SA Galerie Sainte-Anne In a judgment of 8 March 2006, the Paris Court of Appeal recalled that in order to rely on a situation of economic dependence, even as a defence, it is necessary to prove that one is under an obligation to continue the commercial (...)

CA Angers, Switzerland, February 7, 2006, SARL Proservices c/ SA Orthodis The ruling handed down on 7 February 2006 by the Angers Court of Appeal is instructive not only with regard to compensation for a victim of a multiple violation of the provisions of article L. 442-6 C. com, but also with (...)

Cass. soc. 15 November 2006, M. X v. Société Comasud, No. 04-46.721, published in the bulletin "Cass. soc. 15 November 2006", M. X v. Société Comasud, No. 04-46.721, published in the bulletin Current case law on non-competition clauses once again leads us on the beaten track of the pecuniary (...)

Cass. com, October 31, 2006, Thiers distribution c/ SNC LIDL, n° 05-10.541, Published in the bulletin Ruling on illicit comparative advertising and its relationship with unfair competition. Cass. com, 31.10.06, Thiers distribution c/ LIDL 1. While comparative price advertising is nowadays a (...)

Cass. com, 11 July 2006, Europe funérailles v/ Funéfrance Funéclair, n° 02-18.229 Based on articles 1382 and 1383 of the Civil Code, an action for unfair competition requires proof of fault (Cass. com., 16 May 1995, No. 93-17.842; Cass. com., 30 May 2000, No. 98-15.549, Contracts, conc., consom. (...)

Cass. soc., July 4, 2006, Mr. X... c/ société Toupargel, n° 04-46.261 Cass. soc., July 12, 2006, Mr. X... c/ société La Halle, n° 04-47.687, n° 05-40.990 In the event of unlawfulness of a non-competition clause, the Court of Cassation considers that "compliance by the employee with an unlawful (...)

Cass. soc., 28 June 2006, M. X... c/ société Panofrance Méditerranée, n° 05-40.990 The Social Chamber of the Court of Cassation clarifies its case law on the question of the possibility of adjusting the conditions of payment of the monetary consideration. On 31 May 2006, the Court of Cassation had (...)

Cass. soc., May 31, 2006, Société IPS Atlantique c/ M. X..., No. 04-44.598 Case law on non-competition indemnities, a condition for the validity of non-competition clauses ancillary to an employment contract, remains, again and again, particularly prolific. The present judgment answers the (...)

CA Versailles, 12th ch. 2, 18 May 2006, SAS Viastel c/ SA Maille Du Pevele The judgment handed down by the Versailles Court of Appeal on 18 May 2006 is of interest for two reasons as regards the application of the provisions of the NRE Law n° 2001-420 of 15 May 2001: on the one hand, it is one (...)

Cass. com, 10 May 2006, Interbrew v. Brasserie Fischer, No. 04-15.612 Cass. com, 23 May 2006, Casple and Amstutz Levin v. Muller and Campa, No. 04-16.254. Cass. com, June 20, 2006, Mr. X...and Société Céline c/ Infinitif e. a., No. 04-20.776 The rulings handed down by the Commercial Chamber of (...)

Cass. com, May 10, 2006, Union Technologies Informatique v. Metaware Technologies, no. 04-10.149 Would companies have found a solution at the cost generated by the non-competition clauses ancillary to an employment contract? This is indeed what this interesting first judgment of the Court of (...)

Decree 2006-513 of 4 May 2006 implementing Articles L. 470-4-1 of the French Commercial Code, L. 141-2 and L. 216-11 of the French Consumer Code relating to the settlement of transactions and amending the Consumer Code Ministerial decree of 2 May 2006 amending the decree of 24 May 2005 laying (...)

Cass. com, 25 April 2006, Akzo nobel coating v/ société Bonnot, n° 03-20.353 While the decree implementing the SME Law of 2 August 2005 specifying the conditions for implementing price differentiation is still awaited, the Court of Cassation recalled, in a judgment of 25 April 2006, that (...)

Cass. com, April 25, 2006, AMG v. Auchan and Atac, No. 04-13.072 In returning to one of the conditions for bringing an action for unfair competition, the judgment of 25 April 2006 deserves attention. In the present case, AMG, which imports and exports all types of textiles and markets (...)

Cass. com, 25 April 2006, Strulik SA v. Mr. X and Strulik and Stik industries, No. 04-15.694 In the present case, Strulik SA had sued Mr X and the companies Strulik and Stik industries for damages for unfair competition, in particular because of the poaching of two former employees. The former (...)

Cass. crim. 4 April 2006, Sonia X..., No. 05-86.290 In a decision of 4 April 2006, the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation, for the first time to our knowledge, specified the conditions for the application of Article L. 442-8 of the Commercial Code, which makes it a criminal offence to (...)

On December 2005, 19, considering the loopholes of positive law, the European Commission published a Green book on private enforcement of competition rules (Art. 81-82 EC). This document shows both curative and preventive effects of such actions. It also identifies the main barriers to their (...)

"The main reason is that it is too blunt an instrument to distinguish between pro-competitive and anti-competitive behaviour". This statement by John Hilke, Chairman and Rapporteur of the OECD Round Table on "Resale below cost and regulation", held on 23 February, sums up the OECD’s current view (...)

Compliance by the employee with an unlawful non-competition clause necessarily causes him or her a prejudice, the extent of which is to be assessed by the court. Cass. soc., 11 January 2006, Ms. X v. Prisme, No. 03-46.933 Cass. soc. 15 February 2006, Ms X v. Distrel, No. 03-47.941 Cass. soc. (...)

TGI Créteil, 16 December 2005, Société Baud v DGCCRF T. com. Angers, 15 February 2006, DGCCRF c/ FINAMO In two recent cases, the DGCCRF has demonstrated its commitment to enforcing trade cooperation legislation. In a first case, it obtained a judgment dated 16 December 2005 from the Créteil (...)

Cass. com, 13 December 2005, SA Soficar c/ SA Le Tourisme moderne, compagnie parisienne du tourisme, n° 04-10.143 A year and a half after its first decision on the unfair use of a trade name in a domain name (Cass. com., July 7, 2004, n° 02-17.416, subject of a previous comment in this review, (...)

Cass. 1st civ. 13 December 2005, Sté Syn’x c/ Sté Softimage, n° 03-21.154 The ruling handed down by the First Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation on 13 December 2005 provides valuable lessons on the scope of the protection of ideas through the theory of economic parasitism. In this case, a (...)

Cass. com, December 6, 2005, SA Sony v. Sté Concurrence, No. 04-19.320 In a ruling handed down on 6 December 2005, one more in the lengthy dispute between Competition and Sony, the Court of Cassation recalled that the trial judges have sovereign power to assess whether services invoiced by a (...)

Cass. com, 6 December 2005, Merger Factories v. Giat Industries and others, No. 05-10.929. To the question "can an action for unfair competition sanction an abnormally low price practice deemed not to be contrary to the provisions of the Commercial Code by the Competition Council", the Court (...)

Cass. soc., November 30, 2005, Mr. X... c/ Sté Neda, n° 04-41.709 The judgments of the Social Chamber of the Court of Cassation have often been a source of inspiration for extending the solutions devised for the employment contract to other contracts (on the need for a legitimate interest see, (...)

CA DOUAI, 2nd ch. sect. 1, 13 October 2005, SAS Eurauchan c/ SARL Label Gourmand, n° 04-1971 If the Minister of the Economy can intervene directly on appeal to request the pronouncement of a civil fine even though he did not participate in the first instance, it is only on the condition that he (...)

Cass. soc., October 12, 2005, Mr. X... c/ Sté La Fiduciaire d’Armor, n° 03-46.752 Cass. soc., October 19, 2005, Mr. X... c/ Sté Eismann, n° 04-40.803 The case law on the establishment of consideration as a condition for the validity of any non-competition clause inserted in an employment contract (...)

CA Paris, 4th ch., sect. B, 1 July 2005, Albin Michel / Dargaud, n°05-07.980 The Paris Court of Appeal has just handed down a judgment which shows once again the very great plasticity of the law of unfair competition and its complementarity with intellectual property rights (on this point, see (...)

ECCP, Recommendation No. 05-01 of 21 March 2005 on payment periods and their application. Glais Report, 1 February 2005, Study on payment periods for the CEPC Law No. 2005-882 of 2 August 2005 in favour of small and medium-sized enterprises Late penalties are being misused, a point on which (...)

Cass. soc. 14 June 2005, Sté Poney International v. Mrs. X, No. 03-43.401 If the purpose of the non-competition clause is to prohibit the employee, at the end of his contract, from engaging in certain activities which may be detrimental to his former employer, the absence of such a clause (...)

Cass. soc. 25 May 2005, Sté Piejac-Maingret c/ X, n° 04-45.794 The decision handed down by the Social Chamber of the Court of Cassation on 25 May 2005 is interesting in that it is the first to rule on the question of the referral to the judge in summary proceedings to declare a non-competition (...)

Cass. soc. 24 May 2005, M. Forlin and a. c/ SA Arve Intérim, n° 03-43.471 In so far as it confirms the possibility for an employer to bring a double action in unfair competition against not only its former employees but also against the competing undertaking which the latter have founded, the (...)

CA Pau, 21 April 2005, SA Scalandes, n°04/00.970 In the aftermath of the "Sarkozy" agreements and on the eve of the entry into force of a new threshold for resale at a loss, the Court of Appeal of Pau recalls that the prohibition of article L. 442-2 of the Commercial Code is an offence per se (...)

CA Paris, 4th floor, 12 January 2005, unpublished TGI Paris, 3rd district, March 9, 2005, unpublished Cass. com, April 5, 2005, Société Stratégie média conseil c/ Association IPACA, n° 02-21.334 The decisions commented on provide an opportunity to return to two important issues. The first relates (...)

Cass. soc., 5 April 2005, X c/ Sté TGCP, n° 02-45.540 Must the non-competition indemnity, which is a condition for the validity of any non-competition clause inserted in an employment contract, be paid to the debtor employee when the company has ceased to exist legally? The Court of Cassation (...)

Cass. soc., 27 September 2005, company France Arno v. Mrs. X..., No. 03-45.753 Cass. soc. 28 June 2005, TMT France c/M. X..., No. 03-45.342 Cass. soc., March 30, 2005, société AXA conseil c/ M. X..., n° 03-41.911 Cass. soc. 30 March 2005, 4M Promotion c/M. X..., No. 02-46.114 The warnings and (...)

Cass. com, March 22, 2005, Compagnie du grand large c/ M. X, Auchan and Champion organisation development, n° 02-21.105 The ruling handed down by the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation on March 22, 2005 provides some interesting clarifications on the relationship between trademark law (...)

Cass.com, March 8, 2005, Sté James Gilberts rugby footballs Ltd. v/ Sté Asics France, n° 03-13.733 Cass. com, April 5, 2005, Sté Stratégie média conseil c/ Association IPACA, n° 02-21.334 By these two judgments handed down on 8 March and 5 April 2005, the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation (...)

Cass. soc. 28 January 2005, Mrs. X v. Société Fretoccitan, No. 02-47.527 Unfair or anti-contractual competition often results from a three-way game. The judgment presented here is a perfect illustration of this and raises the question of actions brought both against a former employee and against (...)

Cass. com, 25 January 2005, Société Mill’Vi c/ Sociétés ALS service, Bennes Rhône-Alpes and Bennes Manjot, n° 03-11.770 The judgment of 25 January 2005 provides an opportunity to reconsider the extent of the sovereign power of the trial judges in the context of the sanctioning of parasitic acts. In (...)

The report from the Canivet Commission was released the 18 October 2004. This article gathers contributions from main interested parties in the producers/distributors relationship issue. M. Jean-Patrice de La Laurencie, coordinator of the debates among the AFEC association, gathered the four (...)

Council Directive (EC) No 04-D-64 of 30 November 2004 on practices in the distribution of household electrical appliances The Council was asked by the Minister of the Economy to examine the legality of certain practices of a central purchasing body. Without going into detail, the latter was (...)

Report of 30 November 2004 submitted by the working group chaired by Professor N. Molfessis to the First President of the Court of Cassation on reversals of case law As the First President of the Court of Cassation, Guy Canivet, put it very well recently, "reversals of case law create an (...)

CA Paris, 4ème ch. B, 19 November 2004, Sociétés Inditex Industria de Diseno Textil et Zara France c/ Société Fiso, RG 2003/12008 The judgment of 19 November deserves attention as it testifies once again to the importance and interest of the action for unfair competition when the imitated product (...)

Cass. com, October 12, 2004, Société Ronéo c/ Société Drôme bureau, n° 02-13.404 To the question "Does a company in difficulty benefit from the protection offered by the law of unfair competition? "the Court of Cassation answers here, without hesitation, in the affirmative. In the present case, (...)

Cass. com, October 5, 2004, Société Rover France v. M. X, No. 02-17.338 Cass. com, 3 November 2004, Société Manitou v/ Société CMG, No. 02-17.919 What role can common law play alongside Title IV of the Commercial Code, which specifically regulates the abusive termination of established commercial (...)

Cass. com, October 5, 2004, Mr. and Mrs. X...Y... and Mrs. Z...c/ Société Média Overseas, No. 03-11.530 Cass. 1st civ. 7 December 2004, Société Magellan c/ M. X, n° 02-21.245 Cass. com, 30 November 2004, Société Gras Savoye v/ Société AON Conseil and Société des assurés du Sud-Est-SASE, No. 02-20.735 1. (...)

Cass. com, September 28, 2004, Coopérative agricole la cave de la bastide de Levis v/ Société La Cave de Gaillac, n° 02-13.697 Cass. 1st civ., 19 October 2004, Mrs. X... and Company X... c/ DMBB Company and Fiat Company, n° 02-16.057 The judgments handed down by the Court of Cassation on 28 (...)

Cass. com, September 21, 2004, Mr. X v. CGRP, No. 00-18.265. The question of proportionality in the area of non-competition clauses has become increasingly important in recent years in the case law of the Court of Cassation. The latter now requires that, in order to be valid, a non-competition (...)

Cass. com, 7 July 2004, Minister of the Economy and Union of Record Retailers and a. c/ Société Carrefour France, n° 03-11.369 The NRE Act of 15 May 2001 considerably broadened the prerogatives of the Minister of the Economy with respect to the sanctioning of practices restricting competition (...)

Cass. com, 7 July 2004, SA Bretagne Ventes Immobilière c/ EURL Véronique Le Helley, n° 02-17.416 On the Canivet Commission report, see also Trends, Concurrences, N° 1-2004 The use, as a domain name on the Internet, of the distinctive signs of another company in order to create confusion and to (...)

Cass. com, May 12, 2004, Sté ABCG participation c/ Sté Auchan France, n° 01-12.865 In order to assess the brutal nature of the termination of a commercial relationship within the meaning of Article L 442-6, I, 5°, must the courts take into account the state of dependence of the ousted contracting (...)

Cass. com, 12 May 2004, Messrs Y..., Z... and X... and the company La Maison de l’eau c/ SARL Loire affinage, n° 02-19.199 Cass. com, 12 May 2004, SCP Becheret-Thierry c/ SA Défi, n° 02-16.623 These two judgments are of interest in that they were an opportunity for the Court of Cassation to (...)

Cass. com, March 31, 2004, Société Cima textil SL c/ Société Pépino frères and Société Actua’tex, n° 02-11.113 Cass. com, 28 April 2004, Association Fédération sépharade mondiale et Association Fédération sépharadie de France c/ Association Fédération des associations sépharades de France, n° 02-11.484 Two (...)