Domain names referring to the failed 2012 Olympic bid including paris2016.com, paris2016.fr, paris2020.com, paris2020.fr were registered by a Frenchman but have been ruled against by The High Court of First Instance of Paris (Tribunal de Grande Instance). Other domains taken included Paris 2016, Paris 2020, Paris 2024 and Paris 2028. In the latter part of 2005 action was taken against the registrant.

"on the grounds of Article L.712-6 of the French Intellectual Property Code (IPC) which provides that where registration has been applied for, either fraudulently with respect to the rights of another person or in violation of a statutory or contractual obligation, any person who believes he has a right to the mark may claim ownership by legal proceedings. The Court took into consideration the fact that the press had published numerous articles over the years on the Olympic Games in Paris, designating the event as Paris 2012. The court also highlighted that it is well known that the games are in part financed by the licensing of trade marks to companies exploiting all types of products".

The court ruled this registration of the Domain Names fraudulent. Action was also based on infringement of Paris 2012. This trademark is not the same as the trademarks registered (Paris 2012, Paris 2016, Paris 2020, Paris 2024, Paris 2028). Juriscom.net explains "the Court examined the infringement in the light of Article L.713-3b IPC, that provides that shall be prohibited, unless authorized by the owner, if there is a likelihood of confusion in the mind of the public, the imitation of a mark and the use of an imitated mark for goods or services that are identical or similar to those designated in the registration. The provisions of Article L.713-3b IPC are very close to those of Section 10(2)(a) of the UK Trade Marks Act 1994. The Court found that the signs had visual and phonetic similarities, and that they were conceptually close, since all of them evoked the organisation of the summer Olympic Games in Paris, and were based on the use of the year in which these sports events would be organised."For the same reasons, the Court ruled that the registration of the litigious domain names also constituted acts of infringement by imitation.

The Court finally held that the registration and use of the term Paris undermined the rights of the City of Paris to its name, image and repute. Article L.711-4h IPC indeed provides that "Signs may not be adopted as marks where they infringe earlier rights, particularly the name, image or repute of a local authority. In a ruling dated 27 October 2004, the Court of Appeal of Paris had already rendered a judgement relating to the registration of the trade mark Paris 2000 and of the Domain Name ‘paris2000.info’. The Court held that the person who registered and used the domain name paris2000.info had committed acts of unfair competition (parasitism) (4), by creating a website with no connection to Paris in general, and to the City of Paris in particular."

On 14 March 2007, the High Court rendered a judgement (1) condemning Mr Gilbert L., for registering, in March and July 2005, trade marks Paris 2016, Paris 2020, Paris 2024 and Paris 2028, and domain names paris2016.com, paris2016.fr, paris2020.com, paris2020.fr, etc…

The form of theft could not be tolerated. Paris and the Comité national olympic et sportif français (CNOSF, the French National Olympic and Sport Comity), a French association representing Olympic Movement in France, took action against Mr Gilbert L. in 2005, claiming infringement of CNOSF’s Paris 2012 trade mark.

The Paris Court explains it is customary for cities candidate for the Olympic games to authorise use of their names, followed by the year of the games. In January 2003, the CNOSF applied for registration of Paris 2012 for products and services in international classes 1 to 45.

The Court accepted that the press had published numerous articles over the past years on Paris Olympic games, designating the event Paris 2012 and also highlighted the games are in part financed by licensing trade marks to companies which exploits all types of products.

Following the same reasoning, it was ruled that registration of domain names was fraudulent. As the signs at stake were not exactly the same (Paris 2012, Paris 2016, Paris 2020, Paris 2024, Paris 2028), the Court examined infringement in the light of Article L.713-3 b IPC, that provides that "shall be prohibited, unless authorized by the owner, if there is a likelihood of confusion in the mind of the public, the imitation of a mark and the use of an imitated mark for goods or services that are identical or similar to those designated in the registration". The provisions of Article L.713-3 b IPC are close to Section 10(2)(a) of the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 (2). Visual and phonetic similarities were found conceptually close, since they all evoked organisation of the Olympics in Paris, and were based on use of the year in which these events would have been organised.

For the same reasons, the Court ruled that the registration of the litigious domain names also constituted acts of infringement by imitation. It was finally held that registration and use of Paris undermined the City of Paris rights for their name, image and repute. Article L.711-4 h IPC provides that "Signs may not be adopted as marks where they infringe earlier rights, particularly the name, image or repute of a local authority".

Courts condemned Mr Gilbert L. to payment of damages to CNOSF: 5.000 euros for fraudulent registration with 5.000 euros for infringement acts. Litigious trade marks had hardly been exploited meaning the Court condemned the out of line Parisian to the payment of a symbolic euro to the City of Paris.

In a ruling dated 27 October 2004, the Court of Appeal of Paris (3) had already rendered judgement relating to registration of Paris 2000 and the domain name paris2000. The Court ruled that the person who registered and used the paris2000.info domain name had committed acts of unfair competition (parasitism) (4), by creating a website with no connection to Paris or to the City of Paris.