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CISG-online number

792

Case name

IP infringing shirts case

Jurisdiction

France

Court

Cour d'appel de Colmar (Court of Appeal Colmar)

Chamber

Première chambre civile (First chamber for civil matters)

Judges

Marie-Louise Goyet (Presiding Judge), Die (Judge), Edouard Mazarin (Judge), Corinne Armspach-Sengle (Griffier)

Date of decision

13 November 2002

Case nr./docket nr.

1 B 98/01776

Claimant 1

Respondents 3

Case History

Seller 1

Buyer 1

Category of goods

84: Articles of apparel and clothing accessories

Goods as per contract

360 shirts bearing a pattern protected by a third party's intellectual property right

Price

5'512.30 DEM (Deutsche Mark)

CISG applicable

yes, Art. 1(1)(a)

CISG applied

yes

Key CISG provisions interpreted and applied

Art. 42(2)(a)

Key CISG provisions interpreted

Art. 42(1); Art. 42(1)(a)

CISG provisions also cited

Art. 43; Art. 44

This decision cites the following other CISG-online case 1

Editorial remark
by Ulrich G. Schroeter

The present appellate decision was rendered in a dispute that involved the sale of shirts manufactured in Germany to a French buyer, who sold the shirts in his stores in France. The buyer was sued by a French company that held an IP right in the patterns printed on the shirts. The buyer in turn brought suit against the German seller of the shirts and the shirts' German manufacturer. In determining the German seller's liability towards the French buyer, the Court of Appeal applied Art. 42 CISG. It rejected the seller's liability in accordance with Art. 42(2)(a) because it found that the French buyer, who acted in a professional capacity, could not have been unware of the shirt's IP infringement.

CLOUT number

491

Case identifier in the old Albert H. Kritzer Database

021113f1

Comment on this decision 1

Full text and abstract of decision 2