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Article L615-15 of the French Intellectual Property Code

Without prejudice, where appropriate, to the more serious penalties laid down in relation to offences against State security, anyone who knowingly breaches one of the obligations or prohibitions laid down in articles L. 614-18, L. 614-20 and the first paragraph of Article L. 614-21 will be punished by a fine of 6,000 euros. If the infringement has been detrimental to national defence, a prison sentence of five years may also…

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Article L615-16 of the French Intellectual Property Code

Without prejudice, where appropriate, to the more serious penalties laid down in respect of breaches of State security, anyone who knowingly breaches one of the obligations or prohibitions laid down in the second paragraph of Article L. 614-2, Article L. 614-4 and the first paragraph of Article L. 614-5 will be punishable by a fine of €6,000. If the infringement has been detrimental to national defence, a five-year prison sentence…

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Article L615-17 of the French Intellectual Property Code

Civil actions and claims relating to patents for invention, including in the cases provided for in Article L. 611-7 or when they also concern a related question of unfair competition, shall be brought exclusively before the judicial courts, determined by regulation, with the exception of appeals lodged against administrative acts of the Minister responsible for industrial property, which shall come under the jurisdiction of the administrative courts. The foregoing provisions…

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Article L615-18 of the French Intellectual Property Code

By way of derogation from the first paragraph of Article L. 615-17, the civil actions and claims referred to in the first paragraph of Article 32 of the Agreement relating to a Unified Patent Court shall be brought exclusively before the Unified Patent Court: 1° Where they relate to a European patent with unitary effect; 2° Where they relate to a European patent or a European patent application which has…

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Article L615-20 of the French Intellectual Property Code

The court before which an action or plea falling within the provisions of this Title is brought may, either of its own motion or at the request of one of the parties, appoint any consultant of its choice to follow the proceedings from the time they are ready for hearing and to attend the hearing. The consultant may be authorised to put questions to the parties or their representatives.

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Article L615-21 of the French Intellectual Property Code

If one of the parties so requests, any dispute relating to the application of Articles L. 611-7 and L. 611-7-1 shall be submitted to a joint conciliation commission, chaired by a magistrate of the judiciary whose vote shall be decisive in the event of a tie. Within six months of its referral, this commission, set up at the Institut national de la propriété industrielle, will draw up a conciliation proposal;…

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Article L621-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code

The penalties for violating trade secrets are set out in Article L. 1227-1 of the Labour Code, reproduced below: “Art. L. 1227-1- The fact of a director or an employee revealing or attempting to reveal a manufacturing secret is punishable by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros. The court may also impose, as an additional penalty, for a period of up to five years, the disqualification from…

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Article L622-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code

The final or intermediate topography of a semiconductor product reflecting an intellectual effort by the creator may, unless it is commonplace, be the subject of a deposit conferring the protection provided for in this chapter. Such a deposit may not be made more than two years after the topography has first been commercially exploited anywhere or more than fifteen years after it has been fixed or encoded for the first…

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Article L622-2 of the French Intellectual Property Code

The following are eligible for the benefits of this chapter: a) Creators who are nationals of a State party to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation or who have in such a State either their habitual residence or a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment, as well as their successors in title ; b) Persons meeting the above conditions of nationality, residence or establishment, who proceed in a…

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