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Paris First Instance Court - ETEX v/ VERTIGO


Decision date

2013-10-03

Decision No.

RG 11/16991

Nature

Copyright

Country

France

Jurisdiction

Paris First Instance Court

Parties

ETEX v/ VERTIGO



The Etex company was represented by Arnaud Casalonga, Attorney at law.

In 2011 the Vertigo company specializing in the creation and installation of stands for professionals sued the company Etex before the Paris Court for infringement of its stand protected by and copyright used in a showroom.

The company Vertigo invoked the legal provisions of the Code of intellectual property relying on a previously created design whose shape features it claimed to, have been reproduced without permission.

The Court dismissed the claim for infringement ruling that most elements of the stand used by Etex met functional requirements and constraints set by the organization of the exhibition, particularly in terms of location so that Vertigo did not demonstrate that the combination of different elements claimed was original.

Failing to prove the originality of an intrinsic design having functional effects, the legal protection by copyright is excluded.