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The adjective ‘OLYMPIC’ constitutes the distinctive and attractive element of the use trade mark ‘OLYMPIC GAMES (…) [which] even dissociated from the substantive following it and added to other words, (…) evokes, indeed identifies, in the public mind, this famous sportsing event. (…) As a consequence, it should, taken in isolation, benefit from the provisions applicable to a well known trade mark, in the sense of Article 6 bis of the Union Convention of Paris". Finally, the well-known of the use trademark "Olympic" has been recognised by the Community Trade Marks Office of Alicante (OHMI, objection of January 25th 2000).
20 Now, article L.141-5 of the French Code of Sport: "The French National Olympic and Sportss Committee is the owner of the national Olympic emblems and depositary of the motto, hymn, the Olympic symbol and the terms ‘Olympic games’ and ‘Olympiad’. Anyone registering as a trade mark, reproducing, copying, appending, removing or modifying the emblems, hymn, symbol and terms mentioned in the above paragraph without the consent of the French National Olympic and Sportss Committee shall incur the penalties provided for in articles L 716-9 and following of the Intellectual Property Code". 21 Com. July 1rst 2003, Gazette du palais 2004 p. 1396: a commercial disturbance (i.e. a damage) necessary results from a practice of unfair competition. 22 Philippe Le Tourneau. Commercial court of Nanterre, December 12th 2002 : "le parasitisme est entendu comme l'ensemble des comportements par lesquels un agent économique s'immisce dans le sillage d'un autre afin d'en tirer profit sans rien dépenser de ses efforts et de son savoir-faire" (Parasitism is heard like the whole of the behaviours by which an economic agent is involved in the wake of a third party in order to seize benefits without any investment and know-how). 25 "Si les symboles de l’olympisme ne sont pas repris dans les formes protégées ou sous lesquelles le CNOSF se manifeste officiellement, il n’en reste pas moins que la reproduction des couleurs des anneaux olympiques, dans un ordre quasi-identique, aboutit à une présentation tendancieuse, - et la conjugaison de ces couleurs avec d’autres symboles olympiques : flamme et médaille, incitera le public à les identifier aux emblèmes des jeux olympiques. C’est incontestablement cet objectif que s’est fixé la société Henri Maire, cherchant ainsi à se placer dans le sillage des jeux olympiques-événements, dont l’importance historique est entretenue par les efforts promotionnels et financiers du CNOSF, sans lesquels, la référence au centenaire de l’olympisme et aux jeux olympiques aurait, auprès du public, un impact moins grand. (…) le financement de son activité destinée à promouvoir le sport dans le respect des principes de Pierre de Coubertin est en partie assuré par les droits de licence consentis en relation avec les jeux. Il s’ensuit qu’en utilisant les symboles olympiques d’une façon tendancieuse dans le but de profiter de la notoriété d’un événement, entretenue par les efforts du CNOSF, la société Henri Maire a fait acte de parasitisme et détourné, sans contrepartie, les retours que le CNOSF est en droit d’attendre de ses efforts en vue de maintenir l’image et la notoriété des jeux olympiques". 26 Cour d'appel of Paris, June 26th 2003, Gazette du palais 2004, som. p.1274. 27 Appeal court of Paris, April 26th 2006, SA Normalu vs Acet, CCE juillet 2006 commentaire n°106. 28 Civ 1ère, January 9th 2003, Castellblanch vs Société Roederer, CCE 2004 commentaire 40, C. Caron ; Com. January 11th 2005, Hugo Boss, CCE 2005 commentaire 37, C. Caron. 29 Where the contribution of each of the joint authors is of a different kind, each may, unless otherwise agreed, separately exploit his own personal contribution without, however, prejudicing the exploitation of the common work. 30 Aforesaid. In the same sense, a company having used the Olympic symbols in a tendentious way for the purpose of profiting of the fame of the event : TGI of Paris, October 4th 1996, CNOSF v. Société Henri Maire. 31 Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris, January 28th 2004 FFT v. Hopsitality Group (final judgement) ; however, a recent decision of the Tribunal de Commerce of Paris has rejected a similar action based on passing off (May 24th 2007). 32 For individual sports as well as collective sport, every sporting team is directly and entirely submitted to authority of the responsible person designated by the sporting group or the federation (...). Sporting groups or federations are granted exclusive rights of exploitation of the team's collective image on the occasion of its sporting activities and for promoting those activities. Every individual conflicting contract is not opposable. The scope of rights and obligations of any of them is determined by federal regulations and customs (...). It can be clarified in individual contracts that are adapted to the team's particularities, under the condition they are compatible with principles of the present Charta and federal regulations. 33 For instance, the French Athletics Federation limits number of trademarks on facilities, the French Motor Sports federation prohibits luminescent advertising, the French Cycling Federation and French Sailing Federation limit advertising on their licencees suits. 34 For examples: Cour d'appel of Paris, November 20th 1995 (Actionedia v. FFT) aforesaid; Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris, January 28th 2004, FFT v. Hospitality Group (final judgement). 35 CE, November 19th 1997 Nike France, RJDA 1998 n°2 n° 186. 36 Com. December 2nd 1997, Bulletin RJDA 1998, n°2, n°225. 37 Cour d'appel of Paris, February 28th 1980, Dalloz 1982 som. P 92 obs. F. Alaphilippe and J-P Karaquillo. 38 Cour d'appel of Paris, May 14th 2004, SARL Gaston Mercier v. Fédération française d'équitation, unpublished, Juris-Data n°2004-247236. 39 For an example: Cour d'appel of Paris, January 24th 1991, Contrats concurrence consommation 1991, n°77 note L. Leveneur). But in the case "Boules lyonnaises", the Court of Appeal of paris (November 20th 1998) seems to put the principle of exclusivity into question ; indeed, the court has judged that "the exclusive access to the national competitions generates in itself significative uncompetitive effects, concerning the most important competitions and the ones with the largest number of potential customers" ("En tout état de cause, l'exclusivité d'accès aux compétions nationales produit, à elle seule, un effet anticoncurrentiel significatif, s'agissant des compétitions les plus importantes et de celles qui drainent le plus grand nombre de clients potentiels"). 40 Cour de cassation, February 20th 2001, Dalloz 2001 p 1568 note C. Jamin. 41 Cour d'appel of Aix-en-Provence, June 24th 2004, unpublished, Juris-Data n°2004-248451. 42 Court of Justice of the European Communities, February 29th 1968, Case 24/67 "Parke Davis". 43 Court of Justice of the European Communities, October 5th 1988, Case 53/87 "Renault". 44 Avis n°03-A-01 dated January 10th 2003 (relatif à une demande d'avis du TGI de Paris, concernant la situation de la concurrence dans le domaine du sport et du tennis en particulier…). 45 Conseil de la concurrence, déc. N°98-D-31, May 13th 1998 : "Le fait (...) de conclure un accord exclusif avec un équipementier pour la fourniture à des clubs (…) des équipements n'est pas en soi contraire (à l'article L.420-1 du code de commerce) ; de même le fait (...) de permettre à un équipementier de bénéficier, dans le cadre d'un tel accord, de la représentation de la marque et de l'image de clubs (…) n'est pas en soi contraire (à ces dispositions)". 46 Exclusivity for 4 years is to long: French Competition Council, n°98-D-31, May 18th 1998. 47 French Competition Council, December 9th 1997, "Boules lyonnaises". 48 Cour d'appel of Paris, November 20th 1995, aforesaid. 49 French Competition Council, n°97-D-71, October 7th 1997; in the same sense, Court of Appeal of Paris, June 29th 2000, Ligue Nationale de Football v. Reebok, Juris-Data : 2000-123000. Directory: uploads -> documents documents -> The Truth about the Rwandan Genocide documents -> Ap u. S. History presidents list the Young Republic, 1788-1815 documents -> Introduction documents -> Birth of a Monster on the left hand side of the page. Read all the interesting information as you make your way down to the chart which outlines the steps in hurricane formation. Hurricane Formation documents -> History of the American Automobile documents -> Exploring Hurricanes documents -> Famous Alabamians: Athletes documents -> The Baseball Project — Download 196.81 Kb. Share with your friends:
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