‘Abuse of Rights’ in Belgian and French Patent Law – A Case Law Analysis

This paper examines what types of actions undertaken by patent holders have been considered as abusive in the framework of French and Belgian patent litigation. Particular attention is given to the principle of the prohibition of “abuse of rights” (AoR). In the jurisdictions under scrutiny, the principle of AoR is essentially a jurisprudential construction in cases where judges faced a particular set of circumstances for which no codified rules were available. To investigate how judges deal with the prohibition of AoR in patent litigation and taking into account the jurisprudential nature of the principle, an in-depth and comparative case law analysis has been conducted. Although the number of cases in which patent holders have been sanctioned for such abuses is not overabundant, they do provide sufficient leads on what is understood by Belgian and French courts to constitute an abuse of patent rights. From this comparative analysis, useful lessons can be learned for the interpretation of the ambiguous notion of ‘abuse’ from a broader perspective.

CAD Files and European Design Law

Three-dimensional printing (“3DP”) is an additive manufacturing technology that starts with a virtual 3D model of the object to be printed, the so-called Computer-Aided-Design (“CAD”) file. This file, when sent to the printer, gives instructions to the device on how to build the object layer-by-layer. This paper explores whether design protection is available under the current European regulatory framework for designs that are computer-created by means of CAD software, and, if so, under what circumstances. The key point is whether the appearance of a product, embedded in a CAD file, could be regarded as a protectable element under existing legislation. To this end, it begins with an inquiry into the concepts of “design” and “product”, set forth in Article 3 of the Community Design Regulation No. 6/2002 (“CDR”). Then, it considers the EUIPO’s practice of accepting 3D digital representations of designs. The enquiry goes on to illustrate the implications that the making of a CAD file available online might have. It suggests that the act of uploading a CAD file onto a 3D printing platform may be tantamount to a disclosure for the purposes of triggering unregistered design protection, and for appraising the state of the prior art. It also argues that, when measuring the individual character requirement, the notion of “informed user” and “the designer’s degree of freedom” may need to be reconsidered in the future. The following part touches on the exceptions to design protection, with a special focus on the repairs clause set forth in Article 110 CDR. The concluding part explores different measures that may be implemented to prohibit the unauthorised creation and sharing of CAD files embedding design-protected products.

TAKING ORGANIZATIONS SERIOUSLY: RESPONSIBLE AGENCY, ORGANIZATIONS AND THE CRIMINAL LAW

In the post-Enlightenment period, Anglo-American criminal law has been applied with increased force, and an ever expanding scope, to collective actors like corporations and other organizations. Recent scholarship has focused on developing “truly organizational” bases of liability that break with the conventional approach of imputing individual conduct to an organization and instead analyze culpable conduct and intent in a way that reflects the distinct and independent capacity of organizations to pursue their interests or goals collaboratively. In 2004, Canada enacted amendments inspired by these ideas in the hope they would lead to more effective criminal enforcement against organizations. Twelve years later, however, the promise of Bill C-45 is largely unfulfilled. In this thesis, I explore how much of this failure of law reform to deliver transformational change is attributable to an individualist bias that permeates how we think about what it means to be responsible and how this then shapes the responsibility ascription process. Using an analytical framework that combines criminal law theory with selected aspects of rational-structural theory and organization culture, I suggest that a promising way forward may lie in reframing the essential qualities required to be a subject of the criminal law in a way that captures the unique attributes that make organizations different from individuals. The resulting organizational concept of responsible agency allows for an integration of organizational reality into how we assess organizational culpability while keeping the ambit of criminal liability within the limits of what is practicable and fair. This better aligns with the spirit of Bill C-45: to impose criminal liability in a way that takes organizations – and their crimes – seriously.

Ley de pagos de 24 de diciembre de 1917, que levanta en parte el moratorio para el pago de prestaciones en dinero : contiene, además el decreto de 14 de diciembre de 1916 que estableció el moratorio general y la circular que lo aclaró.

Mode of access: Internet.

Profiteering in a non-profit industry : abusive practices in credit counseling : hearing before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, second session, March 24, 2004.

Shipping list no.: 2005-0006-P.

Der materiell-rechtliche Schuldnerschutz des Deutschen Kriegssonderrechts /

Lebenslauf.

Gai Institutionum commentarius secundus ...

v.[1] [sections] 1-96 (sachenrecht)--v.[2] [sections] 97-289 (testamentarisches erbrecht)

How to correct credit abuses,

"First edition."

De transmissione tractatus Nicolai Noalis ... : in quo agitur de transmissione fideicommissorum, legatorum, substitutionum directarum, haereditatis, contractuum, & aliarum materiarum.

Signatures: a-c⁴ d⁶ A-3A⁴.

Die bonorum possessio. Ihre geschichtliche entwicklung und heutige geltung,

Mode of access: Internet.

Traité des actions, ou, Théorie de la procédure privée chez les Romains, exposé historiquement depuis son origine jusqu'à Justinien /

Bibliography: p. 1-2.

Pauli Aemilij Galli, iurisconsulti auximatis, tractatus de exceptionibus : quae oriri possunt in successionibus tam ab intestato, quàm in testamentis, singularis sanè, perutilis ac summè etiam necessarius, in tres partes diuisus : in quo ferè omnes bene distincti & enucleati reperiuntur casus ...

Includes index.

Tractatvs de in litem ivrando, sive Avrea, et solennis repetition, 1. Si quando. C. Vnde VI. /

Mode of access: Internet.

Tractatus de bonis constante matrimonio acquisitis trium clarissimorum iurisconsultorum Hispanorum Roderici Suares, Ioannis Lopes, & Didaci à Segura : adiecimus eiusdem D. Segurae Repetitiones tres, (quas versa indicat pagina) eandem materiam luculenter complectentes ... accesserunt ... summaria & index copiosus.

Signatures : [dagger]-3 [daggers]⁸ 4[daggers]⁴ A-3Q⁸ (3Q8 blank)