Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Orange, Bouygues, etc. can be ordered, through a short judicial circuit, to block domain names, in order to stop the exploitation, in France, of the image or trademark exploited on the website carried by the domain name in question.

Two decisions on this subject:

Court of Justice of Paris, January 8, 2020, n°19/58624

High Court of Paris, 3rd chamber 4th section judgment in the form of summary proceedings, March 7, 2019, n°18/14194

The request may be made on the basis of Article 6.I.8 of the Law for Confidence in the Digital Economy of 21 June 2004 (known as the "LCEN"), transposing the Directive of 8 June 2000 (2000/31/EC) on electronic commerce.

The judicial authority may prescribe, in summary proceedings or on request, to any person mentioned in 2 or, failing that, to any person mentioned in 1, any measures likely to prevent damage or to stop damage caused by the content of an online public communication service (version before 2021 reform)

This text therefore provides for the possibility of requesting technical intermediaries to intervene in harmful content posted online, in the absence of action by the publisher itself, and in a certain order: first the host, then the ISP.
 
This legal provision is used in conjunction with other rules such as those designed to punish counterfeiting (Directive of 24 April 2004 (2004/48/EC) on intellectual property rights, transposed in Article L716-6 of the Intellectual Property Code, now Article L 716-4-6 of the Intellectual Property Code). "...these are two regimes that are distinct by their nature, their modalities and their objectives".
 
Art. L. 716-4-6 CPI covers infringements of intellectual property rights:

Any person with standing to bring an action for infringement may apply to the competent civil court for an interim injunction to order, if necessary under penalty, against the alleged infringer or the intermediaries whose services he uses, any measure intended to prevent imminent infringement of the rights conferred by the title or to prevent the continuation of acts alleged to be infringing. (...)

European Directive 2000/31/EC, recital n°45 states that “the limitations of liability of intermediary service providers provided for in this Directive are without prejudice to the possibility of injunctions of various types. Such injunctions may in particular take the form of decisions by courts or administrative authorities requiring that any violation be put to an end or that any violation be prevented, including by removing the unlawful information or by making the access to them impossible.”

Directive 2004/48/EC, recital 23, says that “without prejudice to any other existing measure, procedure or remedy, rightholders should have the possibility of seeking an injunction against an intermediary whose services are used by a third party to infringe the holder's industrial property right.”

Blocking and seizure of domain names

Consult a trademark lawyer

 

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