De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés (Charles-Edouard Renault, Partner, and Julie Carel, Associate) advised Paramount since 2013 in the context of a dispute initiated by a French writer against the successful TV series « The Sentinel », broadcasted on several French TV channels.

On 29 May 2015, the 3rd Chamber of Paris First Instance Court (specialized in intellectual property) had rejected all the writer’s claims, definitively dismissing any infringement of the novels by the TV series, including regarding the main characters. The writer had appealed such decision asserting that the TV series infringed the copyrights he held over the novels and claiming for the annulment of the judgement and of the 3.5 million Euro damage claim.

In a well-documented decision rendered on 21 February 2017, Paris Court of Appeal, considering that the principle of res judicata had to be respected in this case, confirmed the first instance judgement and rejected all he writer’s claims. The Court explicitly sentenced the latter to pay a fine for abusive proceedings and to provide compensation for the damages suffered by Paramount and other parties as a result of the claimant’s judicial harassment as well as procedural fees for a total amount of 53,000 Euros.

Since its inception, De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés has a strong Intellectual Property practice, including in: Copyright, Trademark, Patent, and Models and Design law, as well as in, the Media, Culture, Marketing, Advertising sectors.  Notably, due to its cross sector project based work organization, De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés’ Intellectual Property practice appears every year in all major international rankings (Chambers, Legal 500, Best Lawyers, etc.).