The Intellectual Property Code provides for the possibility for online service providers to refer disputes relating to the granting of operating licences to a mediator.
The purpose of this mediation is to promote or encourage the amicable resolution of disputes, it being specified that the limitation period for civil and administrative proceedings is suspended for the duration of the procedure.
The following questions and answers are intended to help you better understand this mediation procedure.
The mediator is appointed within the Supervisory Commission for Collective Management Organisations of Copyright and Related Rights (known as “CCOGDA”).
Currently, the mediator is Mrs. Catherine Ruggeri.
You may refer a matter to the mediator either individually, by submitting a request, or jointly with DVP.
This request must contain a number of elements as detailed in Article R.321-26 of the French Intellectual Property Code.
What are the steps following a referral to the mediator by one party only?
Once the mediator has been approached, he or she must inform the other party or parties concerned within eight days.
The parties then have thirty working days to submit their observations to the mediator and to the applicant. This period may be renewed once by the mediator for the same duration.
How is the mediation mission carried out?
The mediator has a period of three months to carry out his or her mission. This period may be renewed once, for the same duration, at the mediator’s request and with the agreement of the parties.
The mediator hears the parties, separately or jointly, as well as any person whose hearing appears useful. The parties and the persons summoned may be assisted by any person of their choice.
The content of the agreement between the parties, even partial, is recorded in a report signed by the parties and the mediator, specifying the measures to be taken for its implementation.
The mediator communicates this report and the follow-up given to it by the parties to the President of the CCOGDA, who forwards these elements to the Minister of Culture.
If no agreement can be reached between the parties, the mediator draws up a report recording this failure, with reasons, and provides a copy to each party.
The mediator may issue a recommendation. This recommendation is notified to the parties, who must inform the mediator within three months of the action taken in response.
The mediator then communicates the report recording the failure of mediation, any recommendation made, and the follow-up given by the parties to the President of the CCOGDA, who forwards these elements to the Minister of Culture.
As part of the mediation, a party may invoke trade secret protection. In this case, the party must inform the mediator of the information, documents, or parts of documents it considers covered by such secrecy. These may not be made public or disclosed to the other parties.
Statements collected during mediation may not be produced or invoked by a party without the consent of the party who made them, in the context of another mediation, arbitration, or judicial proceeding.
The mediator’s findings may not be produced by the parties, except for those that have been made public.
This mediation mission is provided for under Article L.327-1.3° of the French Intellectual Property Code, and its procedure is detailed in Articles L.327-6 and R.321-35 to R.321-44 of the same Code.