Industrial Property Law

The transferor must guarantee the transferee against defects which render the title totally or partially unfit for the use for which it is intended, or which so diminish this use that the transferee would not have acquired it, or would have given a lower price for it, had he or she been aware of them (Article 1641 Civil Code). The parties may agree to waive the warranty of a transferor acting in g …

Warranty against latent defects

The transferor must guarantee the transferee against defects which render the title totally or partially unfit for the use for which it is intended, or which so diminish this use that the transferee would not have acquired it, or would have given a lower price for it, had he or she been aware of them (Article 1641 Civil Code). The parties may agree to waive the warranty of a transferor acting in good faith who was unaware of the defect at the date of the contract (Article 1643 Civil Code).

A defect in a patent may be a deficiency in the law, such as the absence of a patentability requirement or an inadequate description  or a design fault, which compromises the technical implementation of the invention. A design fault occurs when the implementation of the patent instructions fails to achieve the stated result , or when the licensed process presents, not an imperfection requiring simple fine-tuning with a view to industrial exploitation, but a serious design fault which renders it unsuitable for its intended use, and therefore unusable in the normal way .

The transferee, whose rights are vitiated, has a choice between an action for rescission (action rédhibitoire) and an action  for a reduction in the price due to the defect (action estimatoire). 

 This allows the transferee either to return the thing and have the price reimbursed, or to keep the thing and have part of the price reimbursed (Article 1644 Civil Code). The two actions may be brought either simultaneously or successively, one as principal action, the other as subsidiary. The transferor is also liable to the transferee for damages if he or she was aware of the defects in the title (Art. 1645 Civil Code), or if restitution of the price is insufficient to make good the entire harm.

In the event of a legal irregularity affecting the patent, the transferee may also, instead of invoking the warranty, seek annulment of the contract for invalidity of subject matter.

Cass. com., 11 July 1988, LawLex202200002955JBJ.

Cass. civ. 3e, 24 June 1975, LawLex202200002954JBJ, relating to a process enabling the manufacture of exterior walls using prefabricated panels without a waterproofing layer.

Industrial Property Law

322. Warranty against latent defects

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Les notions juridiques connexes

322. Warranty against latent defects

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

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise