Boisson Gazeuse

Before reading this case from the Cour de Cassation, I hadn’t come across Coca-Cola Light Sango, which is apparently a blood orange flavoured cola drink available in France and Belgium. After it was released, a Mr Abdel Sango, a cinema scriptwriter, took Coca-Cola to court. The case reached the court of appeal in Versailles. Mr Sango argued that the use of this name for an orange drink infringed his moral rights as an author in his name, since it was not merely his personal name but also his professional name as an author. He also argued that it was passing off to use his name, under which he had established a reputation as a scriptwriter, to market a product. The court of appeal rejected these arguments. Mr Sango appealed to the Cour de Cassation, which heard the appeal in April 2013, and which reiterated the arguments made by the court of appeal. It held that Mr Sango had no moral right in his own name, which was not itself a work protected under the laws concerning intellectual property. In any case, in my view, it wasn’t a pseudonym so surely it wasn’t his work. On the question of passing off, the Cour de Cassation agreed with the court of appeal that Mr Sango hadn’t demonstrated a sufficient level of recognition with consumers and professionals of the cinema, and that there was therefore no risk of confusion between him and the Coca-Cola drink.

References

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Light_Sango

www.avocat-baranes.fr/lettre/Juillet_2010.pdf

www.courdecassation.fr/jurisprudence_2/premiere_chambre_civile_568/377_10_26024.html

www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006069414&idArticle=LEGIARTI000006278891