Section 2: Criminal proceedings

Any person who improperly claims to be the owner of a patent or patent application shall be liable to a fine of €7,500.

Without prejudice, where appropriate, to the more serious penalties laid down in relation to offences against State security, anyone who has knowingly infringed one of the prohibitions laid down in articles L. 612-9 and L. 612-10 is punishable by a fine of 4,500 euros. If the infringement has been detrimental to national defence, a prison sentence of between one and five years may also be imposed. .

1. Knowingly infringing the rights of the owner of a patent, as defined in Articles L. 613-3 to L. 613-6, shall be punishable by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros. When the offence has been committed in an organised gang or on an online public communication network or when the acts involve goods that are dangerous to human or animal health or safety, the penalties are increased…

If the offences defined in Article L. 615-14, or if the offender is or has been bound by agreement with the injured party, the penalties incurred are increased to double. The offenders may, in addition, be deprived for a period not exceeding five years of the right to be elected and to stand as a candidate for the commercial courts, the territorial chambers of commerce and industry and the chambers…

Natural persons guilty of the offence provided for in Article L. 615-14 may also be ordered, at their own expense, to remove from commercial channels the objects deemed to be infringing and any thing that has served or was intended to commit the infringement. The court may order the destruction at the expense of the convicted person or the delivery to the injured party of the objects and things removed…

Corporate entities held criminally liable, under the conditions set out in article 121-2 of the Criminal Code, of the offence defined in Article L. 615-14 shall, in addition to a fine in accordance with article 131-38 of the French Criminal Code, be subject to the penalties set out in the’article 131-39 of the same code. The prohibition mentioned in 2° of article 131-39 of the same code relates to the…

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…

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…