Our members Emmanuel Raskin and Héloïse Arlaud at SEFJ Avocats have shared this insightful legal news update regarding unfair competition and evidentiary rules in France:

Unfair competition: do not mistake speed for haste

• ⚖️ The conditions governing the recognition of acts of unfair competition have tightened considerably in recent years, through rulings of the Commercial Chamber of the Cour de cassation and a substantial body of case law from the Paris Court of Appeal.
• 👉 Evidence remains a source of considerable debate and difficulty, particularly where a litigant seeks to dispense with the adversarial principle by way of an ex parte order under Article 145 of the French Code of Civil Procedure.
• ‼️ Care must be taken with letters of formal notice sent prior to the filing of ex parte Article 145 applications: their content must be scrutinised with the utmost rigour, as the courts may rely on them to dismiss the application on the ground that the element of surprise essential to its success has not been made out.
• 😭 The withdrawal of an order, a reversal on appeal, or a quashing by the Cour de cassation after several years of proceedings, on the basis of bailiff's findings and/or seizures of documents subsequently annulled, would have unfortunate consequences on the merits: their annihilation.
• 💲 Claims for compensation call for rigour in evidentiary terms: While a judge "may not refuse to compensate a loss whose existence in principle he has found, on the ground that the evidence supplied by the parties is insufficient" (3d Civ., 29 June 2022, No. 21-15.741), be mindful that although non-pecuniary loss may indeed be inferred from the act itself, pecuniary loss must be proved (Com., 7 January 2026, No. 24-18.085).
• 👉 Do not hesitate to retain experts and to define each head of loss precisely: never leave a judge with a file containing no quantifiable head of loss and no objective criterion to apply. Consult us before taking action. We will be at your side.

Find out more about SEFJ here.