The creator of a perfume fragrance, “a great look for copyright”
1. Introduction
This quotation from Robert Blondin fits perfectly in the wake of the case law of the French Court of Cassation which still refuses to grant any protection to the fragrance of a perfume. The secrets of the perfume and its olfactory composition could thus be discovered with the help of noses, analyzed and reproduced by competitors without any risk for them to be prosecuted for counterfeiting. Despite the opposition that has marked some substantive jurisdictions against the lack of protection of perfumes by copyright, the Court of Cassation has continued to maintain its position by judging that "the fragrance of a perfume, which proceeds from the mere implementation of a know-how, does not constitute the creation of a form of expression that can benefit from the protection of works of the mind by copyright".