Lawyers
IP IT Key Players
IP IT Key Players
Lawyers
« the economy surrounding
patents has completely changed,
particularly in the telecommunications sector»
91, rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré
75008 Paris
France
Phone: +33 (0)1 53 43 15 15
Fax: +33 (0)1 53 43 15 00
contact@granrut.com
www.granrut.com
INTERVIEW WITH
Richard Milchior
Partner of GRANRUT AVOCATS
Jean Castelain
BUSINESS
Copyright
Data protection
Designs and industrial models
E-commerce
Geographical Indication
Internet
Litigation
Patents
Privacy
Software
Strategy of Brand protection
Trademark
Unfair competition
Emmanuel Sordet
Created in 1957, Granrut Avocats is a leading French independent
business law firm. With nearly 50 lawyers including 17 partners,
Granrut Avocats has in its team, leading experts in each area of​​
law.
Granrut Avocats has made ​​professional ethics a cardinal value.
After Bernard du Granrut, Jean Castelain became the President of
the Paris Bar (2010 - 2011).
Granrut Avocats supports its clients, private companies, public
entities and individuals, not only in defining their goals but also
in developing and executing the best strategy for legal or judicial
conduct.
Jean Castelain: j.castelain@granrut.com
Anne Cousin: a.cousin@granrut.com
Richard Milchior: r.milchior@granrut.com
Emmanuel Sordet: e.sordet@granrut.com
collection guide-annuaire 2012
Richard Milchior
POSITIONING
CONTACTS
34
Anne Cousin
décideurs
: stratégie finance droit
Leaders League. How is your IP & IT
team organized?
Richard Milchior. Our team consists of
ten dedicated lawyers, four of whom are
partners. Each partner provides specific
skills which enhance those of the rest
of the team. In this way, we are able to
cover the full range of IP and IT issues,
from standard rights (trademarks,
copyright and patents) to Internet law
to communication, personal data protection and database law, all in various
sectors such as health or sport.
Leaders League. Which are the main
legal problems concerning cloud
computing?
R.M. Apart from the issues linked
to personal data protection, we have
identified other contractual problems.
Indeed, individuals who store photos
or data on a website do not realise that
this is cloud computing and they do
not concern themselves with the general conditions that they are accepting
automatically. One of the first subjects
to raise for the French, or even for Europeans, is the fact that by storing data
on American provider services that transits through the United States or that
is stored there, the data becomes accessible to the United States Department
of Homeland Security, as is the case,
for example, with gmail. We have also
studied the «DropBox» contract, which
supposedly stipulates that the provider
does not look at the information that
it stores. However, there are so many
exceptions to the rule that the provider can in fact access the data. Another
provider’s contract stipulates that it
may terminate the contract within 24
hours, or even, in an emergency, within
8 worked hours. This provider, though
it is not the only one to lay down such
a clause, is not responsible for the loss
of information for users who have not
made a copy. Again, for another provider also offering its services in France,
in the event of a dispute, applicable law
is the law of the State of Texas, and the
Court of San Antonio has jurisdiction.
This is hardly practical for a user who is
not located on North American territory. Such examples show few restrictions. We consider therefore that IT
managers must be made aware of this
so that they can work in synergy with
their legal departments or with external
lawyers so as to negotiate certain clauses
with their providers.
Leaders League. Are we facing a new
Patents economy?
R.M. In the past, someone filed a patent,
exploited it or issued a licence, and then
it became part of the public domain.
Today, the economy surrounding
patents has completely changed, particularly in the telecommunications sector. In a Smartphone, for example, there
are hundreds of patents which belong to
different companies, and this can give
rise to mutual action for patent infringement. The same applies in the field of
the Internet, the latest example to date
being Yahoo’s lawsuit against Facebook,
followed several days later by Facebook’s
action against Yahoo. One of the current trends is the purchasing of patent
portfolios which, just like lots at an auction, include some attractive elements
and others with no real value or advantage. These lots offer two complementary possibilities to buyers: development
based on the patents, or causing damage
to competitors that manufacture goods
containing protected elements without
a licence. But nobody checks the potential value of using the patents. Before
buying, the validity of the patent and
the fact that an action has not been
brought to cancel it or for counterfeiting must be checked, but this is
not sufficient to obtain the true value
of the portfolio. In the United States, a
financial activity is already developing.
A stock exchange for intellectual property is being launched. On it, shares
or bundles of shares will be valued and
exchanged with no concern for what
they contain. This is a financial activity
that needs monitoring as we know all
too well what happens when underlying
assets do not have their predicted value.
Leaders League. Is there any recent
legal battle you want to comment on?
R.M. A particular focus is plurinational
litigation as, although the people and
events are identical, the results in each
country are not the same, and this is
true even within Europe. Harmonisation will take some time yet. Another
type of litigation in which we act and
which is arousing great interest, is
FRAND (Fair, Reasonable And NonDiscriminatory terms) litigation, particularly in the telecoms sector. This
litigation is based on competition and
abuse of process issues. The first decisions are currently being pronounced.
Another type of similar litigation which
is developing concerns companies that
take part in patent pools with a view to
setting a standard that can be used by
everyone, but that do not declare one
of their patents although this is necessary to implement a standard and which
then take action against the company
or companies that use a technology
without knowing that it was protected.
Watch this space…
collection guide-annuaire 2012
décideurs
: stratégie finance droit
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