Not so, says my good friend Richard Milchior (Granrut), who assures me that French infringement damages have already been generous for some time, even before the coming into force of the EU's IP Enforcement Directive. Richard has even helpfully pointed me towards this useful table compiled by the PIBD, with some details of actual awards -- so you can believe him! As Richard says:
"As I told you, more or less the international community thinks that the French court are not awarding damages ( obviously there is an assimilation between damages and big amounts);Thanks, Richard, for taking the effort to let us know.
The truth is:
(1) this is wrong
(2) if bigger damages are not awarded it is often due to the fact the plaintiff refuses to provide information which is (rightly or wrongly considered as business secrets) to the court, they do not understand that it is needed , they are to lazy to do the necessary work or their lawyer and /or trade mark agent does not do what it needs to do. ...
Be aware that often in France the amount awarded for unfair competition or parasitism could cover damages to well known marks since we had the habit of using tort law for this even before the CTM Regulation and the trade mark directive".
