Tuesday 21 September 2010

Post-expiry saisie-contrefaçon: only an issue in France?

A Current Intelligence note on a recent French decision, "Validity of a ‘saisie-contrefaçon’ carried out after the expiry of the patent", by Marianne Schaffner and Romain Viret (Linklaters) will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (JIPLP). The full text of this note is available on the jiplp weblog here.  According to the authors, this ruling is applicable mutatis mutandis to any other expired IP right.

PatLit sees nothing wrong in principle with allowing any search and seizure process to take place after a patent or other IP right has expired, so long as that right was still in force at the time of the alleged infringement.  Has this issue caused any problems in other jurisdictions, and are there any countries in which the expiry of a patent right is a bar to the local equivalent of saisie-contrefaçon? Readers are invited to comment.

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