Industrial Property Law

A patent confers on its owner or his/her successors in title an exclusive right to exploit the patented invention (Article L. 611-1 IP Code). The scope of protection conferred by the patent is determined by the claims, which must be interpreted in the light of the description and designs (Article L. 613-2 IP Code) . If the subject matter of the patent relates to a process, the protection conferred …

Principle

A patent confers on its owner or his/her successors in title an exclusive right to exploit the patented invention (Article L. 611-1 IP Code). The scope of protection conferred by the patent is determined by the claims, which must be interpreted in the light of the description and designs (Article L. 613-2 IP Code) . If the subject matter of the patent relates to a process, the protection conferred by the patent extends to the products obtained directly by this process (Article L. 613-2, para. 2, IP Code). 

The interpretation of claims is a matter for the trial courts to decide. If a claim is sufficiently clear to enable the court to identify the specific feature of the invention, the court can determine its meaning without reference to the description . On the other hand, if a claim is ambiguous, it must be interpreted with the help of the description and, where applicable, the illustrations . Article 1 of the Protocol on the interpretation of Article 69 of the European Patent Convention specifies the general principles of claim interpretation . The claims must not be understood in the strict, literal sense of the wording, with the description and drawings being employed only for the purposes of resolving any ambiguities found in the claims. Nor should they serve merely as a guideline: the protection conferred by the title must not extend to what, in the opinion of a person skilled in the art who has examined the description and drawings, the proprietor of the patent has intended. The court must adopt a position between these two extremes, ensuring both fair protection for the applicant and a reasonable degree of legal certainty for third parties. 

The Court of Cassation exercises limited control over the court's power of interpretation. It verifies that its assessment is well-founded  and that it does not distort the terms of the title, in particular by interpreting the claims in a way that contradicts the indications given in the patent  or by adding elements that are not present .

Cass. civ. 2e, 2 November 2011, LawLex202200001012JBJ.

Cass. com. 18 February 2004, LawLex202200002416JBJ.

Cass. com., 6 November 1984, LawLex202200002415JBJ.

Protocol interpreting Article 69 of the Munich Convention of 5 October 1973, as revised in 2000. These principles of interpretation are applicable to disputes under French law, as Article 69 (1) of the European Patent Convention and Article L. 613-2, paragraph 1, of the Intellectual Property Code are drafted in almost identical terms. 

Cass. com. 23 November 2010, LawLex202200003161JBJ.

Cass. com., 4 June 2002, LawLex202200002435J, according to which a court of appeal misconstrues the description of an invention by deciding that it does not exclude that the device can be implemented with a long clamping screw, whereas the invention is intended to avoid the use of such a screw and the patent repeatedly mentions the disadvantages of this solution.

Cass. com. 18 February 1986, LawLex202200002436JBJ; which considers that the Court of Appeal did not add to the text of the claims, but merely interpreted them with the help of the description; Cass. com.., 1 July 2003, LawLex202200001886JBJ, which rejected the appellant's argument that the Court of Appeal had added a feature to the claim that it did not contain, and considered that it had relied on the description of the invention to make the necessary interpretation of the patent claims.

Industrial Property Law

299. Principle

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

299. Principle

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise