Right of information and proof of IP infringement (TB v Castorama)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this opinion?
• What was the background?
• What did the AG decide?
• Case details

Article summary

IP analysis: The Advocate General (AG) issued an opinion on a question put to the Court of Justice by the Regional Court of Warsaw regarding the standard of proof for ownership of IP rights required for obtaining information on the origin and distribution networks of goods or services which infringe an IP right based on Article 8 of Directive 2004/48/EC. He opined that the applicant must not prove ownership of the IP right in question, but only lend credence to such fact. This means that the national court must assess the merits of the request for information and take due account of all the objective circumstances of the case, in order to ascertain, in particular, that the applicant has not abused that request. Written by Dr Fabienne Bretscher and Lena Carla Weber, associates at Baker McKenzie.