Industrial Property Law

Patronyms (family name) and pseudonyms are attributes of the personality and, as such, are inalienable and non-transferable. A patronym or pseudonym may not be used by a third party, in particular as a trademark, under conditions that would adversely affect the personal character of its holder, without the latter's authorization . Nevertheless, the principle of inalienability and non-transferabili …

Patronym/Pseudonym

Patronyms (family name) and pseudonyms are attributes of the personality and, as such, are inalienable and non-transferable. A patronym or pseudonym may not be used by a third party, in particular as a trademark, under conditions that would adversely affect the personal character of its holder, without the latter's authorization . Nevertheless, the principle of inalienability and non-transferability does not prevent a person from assigning or granting to another person the right to use his or her name as a company name, trade name, sign  or trademark . The patronym becomes in that case a distinctive sign detached from the natural person who bears it and is attached to the legal person who distinguishes it, and thus becomes intangible property .

The consent of the owner of the family name to the use of his/her name as a trademark, which may be express or implied, must be obtained. In the absence of an express or tacit waiver on the part of the owner of the name, the owner retains the economic rights. This agreement cannot be inferred solely from authorization to use the patronym as a corporate name, even if it is given by a founding partner . Nor can it result from the authorization to use the patronym of one's ex-spouse following a divorce ruling . On the other hand, the contribution of exclusive rights to the exploitation of art editions by their owner, mentioned in the publication of the incorporation of a company  or the permission granted by the holder of the patronym to the companies operating the business he created to use his name as a sign, trade name and corporate name  , constitute an implicit transfer of the patronym. The transfer of the rights to use the patronym may be of varying degrees of scope. In the case of an agreement that only authorizes the use of the family name in conjunction with a place name, the registration and use of the family name as a trademark not in conjunction with the place name infringes on the rights of the owners of the patronym .

In order to be valid, the registration of a family name as a trademark must be done in good faith. It must not have the purpose of restricting the right of use of a third party , be of such a nature as to harm the reputation of the family name nor the commercial interests of its owner , or take parasitic advantage of the reputation of a trademark . The use of the patronym must not be misleading for consumers by leading them to believe that the mark identifies a person .

Specific rules apply to noble titles, which are in principle unavailable and any agreement for their commercial use is impossible. Exceptionally, the Court of Cassation has, however, accepted the use of the title “Duke of Praslin” by an undertaking in its commercial activities as a sign or trademark: the title at issue was not being used at the time the trademark was filed, the authorization to use it did not include a clause regarding precarity or revocability and had not been called into question for more than 80 years, and it was not shown that the existence of the trademark was likely to create confusion with the bearer of the title, as the undertaking did not suggest any link between him and the goods .

A person who has tolerated the use of a patronym in trademarks for more than five years cannot request the invalidation of those trademarks .

CA Paris, 11 September 1996, LawLex202200000962JBJ.

Cass. com. 12 March 1985, LawLex202100005737JBJ; Cass. com. 29 January 2008, LawLex202100005749JBJ.

Cass. com., 9 April 2002, LawLex200200000456JBJ, the undertaking transferee of the trademark “Alexis Lichine” acts in bad faith by registering trademarks containing the surname Lichine without the first name Alexis, since these registrations are of a nature to undermine the renown of this surname in the wine trade and the commercial interests of its owner.

Cass. com, 7 April 1998, LawLex200200001140JBJ.

CA Paris, December 15, 2004, LawLex202100005285JBJ, the company Inès de la Fressange, by using the eponymous trademark, created confusion in the mind of the consumer, who was led to believe that the trademark identified the person of Inès de la Fressange, who had in the meantime left the undertaking and was involved in a legal dispute with it.

Cass. com, 21 October 1997, LawLex200200001211JBJ.

CA Paris, 12 October 2001, LawLex202100005747JBJ.

CA Paris, 15 December 2004, LawLex202100005285JBJ, the principle of the inalienability and the permanent nature of the family name is not such as to defeat the function of any trademark to distinguish goods and services.

Cass. com, 6 May 2003, LawLex202100005748JBJ; Cass. com, 24 June 2008, LawLex202100005750JBJ.

Cass. com. 27 February 1990, LawLex202100005740JBJ.

Cass. com, 29 January 2008, LawLex202100005749JBJ.

Cass. com, 13 November 2013, LawLex202100005805JBJ.

Cass. com, 27 June 2000, LawLex202100005745JBJ.

Industrial Property Law

32. Patronym/Pseudonym

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Les notions juridiques connexes

32. Patronym/Pseudonym

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise