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A drawing or model is considered new if, on the date of filing the application for registration or on the date of the claimed priority, no identical model or design has been disclosed, i.e. made accessible to the public (ex: publication, use, exhibition at a trade show or by any other means).Are you, or your employees, creating a product that has a new appearance or a specific feature? A shoe? A piece of furniture? A handbag? Apparel? A pattern? Do not disclose it before having filed a registered design application. If you shared, released, or presented your product to the public less than 12 months ago, you should apply for protection of the design and model as soon as possible and do so, before the 12-month time period expires. Failing that, your registered model and design risks being cancelled for lack of novelty.
As such, Crocs, Inc.’s rights on the community model of its clogs did not survive the application for declaration of invalidity filed against them. Their novelty was destroyed due to the disclosure of the product more than 12 months prior to filing the registered Community design application.
In its decision of March 14, 2018, the EGC considered that disclosure was constituted by: showing the clogs at issue at an international boat show in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; putting the clogs on sale in the United States (for which sales trends are substantial for the EU market) and featuring them on the internet (which, by nature, is accessible everywhere in the world).
By doing so, and therein is the importance of the court ruling, the EGC took into account the evidence of disclosure having occurred outside of the European Union in order to rule on the invalidity of a community model.The company Crocs, Inc. could have avoided its model being invalidated if it had managed to prove that the invoked evidence did not constitute disclosure, i.e. that its model could not reasonably have been known, according to normal business practices in the industry concerned, in this case, shoe manufacturing and sales professionals operating within the European Union.
The EGC specified elements that might have convinced the Court not to retain disclosure of the community model: proof that the website was not – in practice – consulted, or very little, by users from the EU; proof that the boat show had not been attended by exhibitors or participants from the EU; proof that the distribution and sales network of the clogs to which the disputed model or design had been applied was not, in actual fact, operational and that no orders had been placed via that network.
This ruling strongly reminds the caution that creators and right holders must exercise before any disclosure of their product. The actual international means of communication inevitably leads to more easily take into account evidence having occurred outside of the European Union even when protection had been requested for the EU territory.
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New measures to facilitate decision-making and the participation of shareholders in public limited companies (SA), companies limited by shares (SCA) and limited liability companies (SARL) introduced by French Decree n° 2018-146 dated February 28, 2018 as per ruling n° 2017-747 dated May 4, 2017.
1. Shareholders’ Meetings held exclusively via remote, virtual means.
The Articles of Association of public limited companies (SA) and companies limited by shares (SCA) may provide for general meetings held exclusively via videoconference or means of telecommunication enabling the identification of its shareholders.
Nevertheless one or several shareholders, holding at least 5% of the capital, have the right to request that a physical meeting be convened. The Articles of Association must specify if this right to oppose is to be exercised before or after the formalities of convening the meeting.
– Right to oppose exercisable prior to the convening of the general meeting:
– The company must notify its shareholders of the meeting date at least 35 days prior to the former by sending the text of the draft resolutions and a reminder of the conditions for exercising the right to oppose.
– The opposition must be addressed to the company at least 25 days prior to the meeting date.
– Right to oppose exercisable after the convening of the general meeting:
– The company sends to its shareholders the notice of meeting reminding them of the right to oppose and the conditions for exercising that right as well as the location where the meeting is to be held if opposition is made to holding it exclusively via remote, virtual means.
– The opposition must be addressed to the company within 7 days following the publication or sending of the notice of meeting.
– In the event of opposition, the company notifies its shareholders, at the latest 48 hours before the meeting, that it will not be held exclusively via remote, virtual means.
2. Inclusion of items or draft resolutions on the agenda for the company’s (SARL) general meeting made by shareholder(s) holding at least 5% of the capital.
Any and all companies (SARL) are required to send a notice to one or several shareholders holding at least 5% of the capital if so requested, informing them of the date scheduled for the assembly meeting.
When shareholders seek to include an item or draft resolution on the agenda, they must justify their request, accompanied by the draft text if need be, and address it to the company at least 25 days prior to the meeting date. If the request is in compliance with the legal terms, management must include it on the agenda.
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Following its referral by 60 members of Parliament, the French Constitutional Court recognize nearly all of the Bill of ratification of the “Ordonnances Macron”, including that on the implementation of the new “CSE”.
The text, adopted on February 6 & 14, 2018 by the French National Assembly, followed by the Senate, will remain almost unchanged on the day of its promulgation.
Ordonnance n°2017-1386 dated September 22, 2017 on “the new organization of social and economic dialogue within the Company” merges the three current employee representative bodies – the Employee Delegates, the Works Council and the Committee on Hygiene, Safety and Working Conditions (referred to as “Délégués du Personnel”, “Comité d’Entreprise” and “CHSCT” in French ) – into a single body named: Social and Economic Council (“CSE”).
Establishing a CSE is compulsory for all companies with at least 11 employees. Its duties vary depending on the number of employees, as was foreseen up until now for companies with the Employee Delegates or Works Council.
The CSE must therefore progressively replace the former bodies representing the personnel (IRP), in such a way that they will have completely disappeared by January 1, 2020.
In practice, the CSE must be established at the end of the term of the former IRP, when one of the abovementioned institutions is being renewed and at the latest by December 31, 2019.
For this purpose, the Ordonnance organizes the possibility of extending or shortening the terms underway, so that the end of the term coincides with the date the CSE is established.
Take note: the rules for possibly extending or shortening the term underway depend, firstly, on the date the pre-electoral agreement protocol was signed and, secondly, on the date the current term expires.
Latest News:
When the term of the former IRP reaches its expiry date:
– in 2018: the length of the term may be shortened or extended for at most 1 year;
– in 2019: the length of the term underway may also be shortened
(addition by the Bill of ratification adopted in the Senate on February 14, 2018).The Constitutional Court censured solely one provision, on the CSE. The employer shall not be exempt anymore from organizing partial elections in case of annulment of election of the CSE members on lists that fail to fulfil the obligation of a balanced representation of men and women (Decision n° 2018-761 DC dated March 21 2018).
The Bill of Ratification should be promulgated in the French Journal Officiel shortly.
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The book written with Anne-Françoise Chaperon and Marie-Edith Alouf has a broad approach of the subject, with both psychology and law.
More about the book here.
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Conferences, workshops, debates, come and ask us all the questions you want about export and business abroad!
More information on CCI Paris website.
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