Language of document :

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour d’appel de Paris (France) lodged on 24 October 2018 — IT Development SAS v Free Mobile SAS

(Case C-666/18)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Cour d’appel de Paris

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: IT Development SAS

Respondent: Free Mobile SAS

Question referred

Does a software licensee’s non-compliance with the terms of a software licence agreement (by expiry of a trial period, by exceeding the number of authorised users or some other limit, such as the number of processors which may be used to execute the software instructions, or by modifying the source code of the software where the licence reserves that right to the initial rightholder) constitute:

-    an infringement (for the purposes of Directive 2004/48 of 29 April 2004 1 ) of a right of the author of the software which is reserved by Article 4 of Directive 2009/24/EC of 23 April 2009 on the legal protection of computer programs 2

-    or may it comply with a separate system of legal rules, such as the system of rules on contractual liability under ordinary law?

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1     Directive 2004/48/EC of the European parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (OJ 2004 L 157, p. 45).

2     Directive 2009/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the legal protection of computer programs (OJ 2009 L 111, p. 16).