Security Rights in Intellectual Property in France

Abstract

This paper presents the French general law (i.e. ordinary law, droit commun) and specific law (droit special) for security rights in intellectual property. As a general rule, French law transposes European Union law. However, the French legal system has maintained a wide variety of devices to secure rights in intellectual property—the pledge of claims (nantissement de creances), fiducia security (fiducie-surete), assignment of claims (or assignment of credit-claims, cession de creances) are only the tip of the iceberg. While this variety of devices may seem complex, it has also provided decent legal certainty to users.