Unfair competition: The Court of Cassation holds that the only imitation product whose patent has expired is not an act of parasitism (Lego, Lunatic construction)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. Cass. com, May 3, 2012, Lego v Lunatic construction, No. 11-18077 The ruling handed down by the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation on 3 May 2012 is interesting in that it clarifies the contours of economic parasitism. In this case, a company marketing toys in the form of stackable children's building bricks for which it had an expired patent sued a company manufacturing furniture on the basis of economic parasitism. It alleged that the defendant was marketing modular furniture elements which took on the shape and proportions of its play bricks by oversizing them, which it claimed was characteristic of a placement in its wake. The Paris Court of