French Intellectual Property Code

The Ombudsman may call upon the services of the Minister responsible for culture. The latter will provide the necessary resources to enable the Ombudsman to carry out his duties.

I.- Referral to the mediator shall be made by letter delivered against a signature or by any other means capable of establishing proof of the date of referral and shall include: 1° If the applicant is a natural person, his surname, first name and address; if he is a legal entity, its legal form, name, registered office and the identity of its legal representative. If the applicant is a legal…

The mediator has a period of three months in which to carry out his task, from the date of receipt of the request or, where applicable, from the date of receipt of the observations of the party or parties that the mediator has informed of the request or from the date of expiry of the period allowed for producing these observations. The three-month period may be extended once, for the…

The mediator hears the parties and any other person he deems useful. The parties may be assisted by any person of their choice, whose identity they shall disclose prior to their hearing. The mediator draws up a record of these hearings.

When a party invokes business confidentiality, it shall inform the mediator of the information, documents or parts of documents that it considers, at the time of their communication, to be covered by such confidentiality and which may not therefore be made public. The mediator may only bring such information or documents or parts of documents covered by business confidentiality to the attention of the other party or parties with the…

When the mediator finds that the parties have reached an agreement, the content of the agreement is recorded in a conciliation report signed by the parties and the mediator, which specifies the measures to be taken to implement the agreement and the deadline set by the mediator for its implementation. A copy of the conciliation report is given to each party against a receipt or sent by letter against signature…

If, at the end of the period provided for in article R. 214-11, no agreement has been reached between the parties, the mediator may issue a recommendation proposing measures to put an end to the dispute, which shall be notified to the parties within ten days by letter delivered against a receipt or by letter delivered against a signature or by any other means capable of establishing proof of the…

The failure of conciliation results from one of the following situations: 1° No agreement is reached between the parties within the period provided for in Article R. 214-11; 2° The mediator’s recommendation, referred to in the first paragraph of Article R. 214-15, has been rejected by at least one of the parties. As a result of this failure, the mediator draws up a report of the failure to reach a…

The mediator may, in compliance with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article R. 214-13, decide on the publication of the conciliation agreement or recommendation, in full or in excerpts, in newspapers or on online public communication services, which it designates and according to the terms it specifies.

The mediator’s findings, other than those made public by the mediator, statements taken by the mediator and information brought to the mediator’s attention may not be produced or relied upon by a party without the agreement of the other party or parties in another mediation procedure, arbitration procedure or court proceeding.