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FRANCE


‘LOI EVIN’: 20 YEARS ON


David-Irving Tayer and Benjamin Martin-Tardivat Witetic


On January 10, 1991, France passed a law in the fight against smoking and alcoholism. This law, ‘Loi Evin’, was named after health minister Claude Evin and inserted in the French Public Health Code.


The law has been modified from time to time to adapt itself to the changing market—the most recent amendments occurred in 2004 and 2011. The aim of the law is to regulate or prohibit advertising of alcoholic and tobacco products. The law stipulates:


• For tobacco products, that: “Any propaganda or publicity, direct or indirect, of tobacco or tobacco products and free distribution is prohibited. Any sponsorship is forbidden when it has the purpose or effect of propaganda or direct or indirect advertising of tobacco or tobacco products”; and


• For alcoholic products, that advertising is authorised only in certain kinds of publication, with specific disclaimers (eg, “alcohol abuse is dangerous for health”), and that this applies even to packaging without the presence of the trademark. (Among the authorised publications we note the introduction of online publications from bodies established outside the European Union or the European Economic Area, as long as the publications are not essentially aimed at the European market. This provision was introduced in the middle of the last decade.)


The law was passed with a view to protecting consumers and young people, and the impact on trademarks was not considered at that time.


‘Loi Evin’ and trademarks


Anyone faced with ‘Loi Evin’ should tread carefully. Indeed, when proceeding with trademark searches it is highly recommended to include an identical search among trademarks filed in class 33 (alcoholic products) and 34 (tobacco) to ensure that there is no prior trademark registered.


128 World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2012


The possible consequence of a prior trademark in either class would be for the applicant to fall under the conditions of ‘Loi Evin’ on advertising.


One may believe, although it is not the activity of the applicant, that protection in classes 33 and 34 should be claimed, but such filing does not appear to be necessary in France, as a recent case demonstrates. The Court of Appeal in a decision of October 26, 2011, had to judge whether the owner of a prior trademark might obtain the cancellation of a latter trademark registered for alcoholic products. A French company, Dyptique, is the owner of trademark Dyptique for, among other goods, perfumed candles and perfumes. Company Jas Hennessy & Co filed an identical trademark for alcoholic beverages. Dyptique filed a cancellation action based on the fact that it would not be able to use its trademark freely because it may fall under the conditions of ‘Loi Evin’. The first instance tribunal rejected the argument, explaining that the consumer would clearly identify the difference between the two trademarks. The Court of Appeal cancelled this decision, considering that the prior owner would be likely to be restrained from the full use of its property right. Contrary to the first instance tribunal, the court decided that it did not matter if the trademarks at stake are presented differently or sold on different shelves in a retail outlet. This decision seems to establish a clear precedent.


Consequently, when conducting trademark searches, companies active in tobacco or alcohol products should conduct identical searches in all classes of international classification.


With respect to the use of the trademark for alcoholic or tobacco goods it is, as mentioned previously, delicate. The trademark owner must ensure that the trademark is presented with all the legal information, that young people may not be in contact with the advertising and that the sales outlet is not close to places where children are. The latter point is becoming harder to handle when we move to the virtual world and should be carefully checked.


www.worldipreview.com


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