Writ of summons for trademark infringement

The assignation en contrefaçon de marque is the legal act that starts a trademark infringement lawsuit in France. Functionally, it combines what a US litigator knows as the complaint and the service of process: it is a single document that both states the case and is formally served on the defendant.

How it works

The writ is drafted by the trademark attorney and delivered to the defendant by a commissaire de justice (judicial officer, formerly called huissier de justice — often translated “bailiff”). Its purpose is to inform the defendant that the plaintiff is bringing the case before the Tribunal judiciaire (the French civil court with jurisdiction over trademark matters) to have the defendant held liable for infringement and, most often, ordered to pay damages.

Formal requirements

Two points matter in practice:

• After service, the writ must be filed with the court clerk within the prescribed deadline; otherwise it lapses (caducité) and the proceedings never validly start — there is no direct US equivalent to this second filing step.
• The writ must set out the legal and factual grounds the plaintiff intends to rely on and include a schedule of exhibits (bordereau des pièces). French procedure front-loads the case: unlike US notice pleading, the writ must already contain a substantiated argument.

For an overview of enforcement options in France, see trademark infringement litigation in France.

See also: trademark infringement, statute of limitations.

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