Industrial Property Law

IP infringement actions are time-barred five years from the day on which the proprietor of a right knew or should have known of the last fact enabling him to exercise it (Art. L. 615-8 IP Code). Prior to the Hamon Law of 11 March 2014, which aligned all intellectual property rights with the ordinary civil law five-year statute of limitations (Art. 16), patent infringement actions were time-barred  …

Limitation period

IP infringement actions are time-barred five years from the day on which the proprietor of a right knew or should have known of the last fact enabling him to exercise it (Art. L. 615-8 IP Code). Prior to the Hamon Law of 11 March 2014, which aligned all intellectual property rights with the ordinary civil law five-year statute of limitations (Art. 16), patent infringement actions were time-barred after three years. The law of 22 May 2019  amended the starting point of the limitation period, which now corresponds to the ordinary civil law starting point for legal action (Art. 2224 Civil Code). Previously, the statute of limitations ran from the moment when the acts giving rise to the infringement action occurred, i.e., from the day when the infringement ceased to exist .

Law No 2008-561 of 17 June 2008  introduced a cut-off point of twenty years from the date on which the right to sue arose, beyond which the proprietor of the patent rights can no longer sue for infringement (Art. 2232 Civil Code).

The limitation period may be interrupted by a legal action brought by a third party, even in interim proceedings (Art. 2241 Civil Code). Thus, a licensee's claim for compensation for the harm suffered as a result of infringement interrupts the limitation period for the infringement action brought by the patentee. The same applies when the legal action initiated by the patentee is brought before an incompetent court, or when the act of bringing the case before the court is annulled due to a procedural irregularity (Art. 2241 Civil Code). This interruption is binding on all parties, including the victims of the infringement . However, the interruption of a limitation period necessarily presupposes that it has begun to run. Thus, a writ of summons for infringement of a European patent issued before publication of the patent does not have the effect of interrupting the limitation period, insofar as the patent is enforceable against the defendant only as of its publication .

Law No 2019-486 of 22 May 2019 relating to the growth and transformation of undertakings, known as the Pacte Law, OJ 23 May 2019, Art. 124.

Law No 2008-561 of 17 June 2008 reforming the statute of limitations in civil matters, OJ No 0141 of 18 June 2008.

Cass. com. 25 May 1976, LawLex202200003821JBJ.

Cass. com., 24 November 2009, LawLex202200003538JBJ.

Industrial Property Law

389. Limitation period

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389. Limitation period

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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