In a landmark judgment, the French supreme court decided that “the name “France” is a component of the identity of the French State, in that this term designates the national territory in its economic, geographical, historical, political, and cultural identity, for which it is entitled to claim a prior right” within the meaning of the Article L. 711-4 of the French Intellectual Property Code (Cass., com., April 6, 2022, No. 17-28.116). The Cour de Cassation thus confirms the ruling of the Paris Court of Appeals, which had justified the transfer of the domain name france.com to the French State (Paris Court of Appeals, September 22, 2017).
As a reminder, Article L. 711-4 of the French Intellectual Property Code, repealed in 2019, listed a non-exhaustive list of prior rights that could defeat a trademark registration application. For the Court of Appeal of Paris and the Court of Cassation, the name “France” could therefore find its place in this catalog.
Ordinance No. 2019-1169 of November 13, 2019, relating to trademarks, repealed Article L. 711-4 of the Intellectual Property Code, the content of which has been moved to Article L. 711 -3. In addition, the latter now prohibits trademarks that would infringe on the name of a public entity (such as France) in the presence of circumstances generating a risk of confusion.
Therefore, “France” must be used carefully to avoid any risk of confusion. Obviously, at the very least, any reference to the features of sovereignty (Article 2 of the French Constitution) could certainly be considered a risk of confusion.
