The Paris Court of First Instance to Decide Important Cases on Trademark Parody

Mondaq Business Briefing, October, 2004

By Emmanuel Baud and Sandra Strittmatter (Paris)

Originally published October 3, 2004

The Paris Court of First Instance recently rendered two decisions in similar cases involving the non-profit organization Greenpeace and the petroleum industry company Esso (in the first case) and the nuclear industry company Areva (in the second case).

In both cases, Greenpeace had used word marks and altered representations of the pictorial or semi-pictorial marks owned by the plaintiffs to convey its polemic messages, with the result that Greenpeace were sued by both company for trademark infringement and tort liability (notably for disparagement).

Two constitutional principles were in conflict: the principle of freedom of expression and speech, and...