Intellectual Property

The challenges

In a context where intellectual property forms one of the primary areas for economic development with regard to both technology and creativity, companies need to develop, protect and defend their intellectual property. All market players are faced with four major challenges:

• Securing ownership of technological innovations and creations developed for the company by their contractors and employees
• Guaranteeing the protection of these innovations and creations
• Developing contractual arrangements relating to the secure use of intellectual property rights
• Defending intangible assets in the event of infringement and/or unfair and/or parasitic competition.  

Our practice areas

We advise our clients on the following key legal areas:

• Patents, know-how and plant variety certificates
• Trademarks and domain names
• Designs
• Copyright and neighbouring rights
• Databases, personal data protection
• Unfair and parasitic competition.

We offer a full-range of services involving:

• Analysing legal situations, providing advice and legal opinions relating to all intellectual property-related issues
• Drafting and negotiating R&D, licence, assignment and coexistence agreements
• Conducting audits of companies’ intellectual property
• Filing national and European trademarks, designs, conducting research and analysis relating to prior rights
• Objection procedures on behalf of claimants or defendants
• Customs procedures
• Providing assistance and representation in disputes regarding intellectual property matters before the civil, commercial and criminal courts (seizure of infringing products, action for infringement, interim prohibition measures, etc.)
• Providing assistance and representation in disputes regarding unfair and parasitic competition, and criminal or contractual liability in general relating to these areas.  

Our approach

• Our multidisciplinary expertise is based on our team members’ complementary skills. We have expertise in providing advice, contractual matters and litigation relating to intellectual property law and competition law. 
• Our team’s complementary expertise can be combined with the firm’s other legal and tax expertise : the full scope of matters is often not recognised and can go beyond intellectual property law issues. in this respect, lawyers specialising in other areas are often called upon (tax, competition, regulations, etc.).
• International management of matters by dedicated lawyers working together with other lawyers in CMS.
• Pragmatic approach combined with an understanding of our clients’ business sectors.  

Our clients

All French or foreign companies whose operations depend on protecting and developing intellectual property in sectors as varied as life sciences, chemical industry, information technology, mechanics, food industry, textile and luxury goods.