E-commerce lawyers in Paris
Domains of expertise > E-commerce law
Are you launching or rebuilding an online store, adding a subscription offer, opening a marketplace or expanding sales outside France? Bouchara & Avocats assists you, in France and internationally, in securing your checkout journeys, your contracts and your data processing, while protecting your trade mark, your domain name, your photographs, your product pages and your digital creations.
Would you like your website audited, your checkout journey brought into compliance or your interests defended online?
A firm recognised by the leading legal directories: Chambers · Legal 500 · Décideurs · Lexology Index.
Our e-commerce law services
We act for businesses that sell online, whatever their channel: on their own website, on a marketplace, or by operating a platform themselves.
Legal audit and compliance of the online store
We review your distance selling journey against consumer law, digital law and the rules applying to your business model. An audit is not limited to reading the terms and conditions.
We examine how your website actually works, together with the various customer touchpoints:
- product pages and price display;
- forms and account creation;
- basket, order and payment;
- delivery, returns and refunds;
- cookies and personal data processing;
- contracts with suppliers.
Depending on the scope of the engagement, our work can include a risk map, annotations of the checkout journey, a prioritised remediation plan and the updating of your documents. Our lawyers can also coordinate the fixes with your web agency, your IT department, marketing or your DPO.
Finally, we assist businesses facing an inspection by the DGCCRF (the French consumer protection authority) into their website, their checkout journey, their promotions or their commercial practices.
Terms of sale, terms of use, legal notices and commercial contracts
We draft or update the documents that suit your company’s model:
- B2C and B2B terms of sale;
- terms of use and legal notices;
- subscription terms;
- terms applying to marketplace sellers and buyers;
- distribution and affiliate agreements;
- agreements with agencies and suppliers;
- influencer and content creation agreements.
The rules are not the same depending on whether you sell to consumers or exclusively to businesses. In business-to-business relationships, terms of sale must in particular set out payment terms and how the price is determined. Once established, they form the basis of the commercial negotiation.
We also include the provisions essential to protecting your digital assets: terms of use for content, rights in user contributions, resellers’ obligations, controls on data extraction and intellectual property clauses.
GDPR, data protection and digital marketing
We analyse each processing operation linked to customer accounts, orders, loyalty programmes, abandoned baskets, analytics tools and prospecting.
Our advice covers in particular the legal bases, the information provided to individuals, cookies, contracts with processors, retention periods and transfers of data outside the European Union.
Our work can include an audit and GDPR compliance for your website, CRM and marketing tools. We also act in the event of a CNIL inspection, a data subject request or a data breach.
Protecting trade marks, content and digital assets
We assist businesses to:
- run prior rights searches and file trade marks with the INPI, the EUIPO or through the international route;
- protect their domain names;
- set the legal framework for the creation of the website by suppliers;
- secure the rights in photographs, videos and graphic works;
- review the protection of databases;
- organise the monitoring of trade marks and content;
- act against online infringements.
Paying an invoice does not, in itself, transfer all the intellectual property rights in works created by an agency, a photographer or a designer. Where an assignment is required, the rights transferred and the scope of their exploitation must be precisely defined, in particular as to their extent, purpose, territory and duration.
Marketplaces, dispute management, takedowns and litigation
Where a dispute arises with a marketplace, a seller, a supplier or a payment service provider, we act in an advisory capacity, in pre-litigation and before the competent courts.
Our work may concern in particular:
- the sale of counterfeit goods;
- unauthorised use of a trade mark;
- copying of photographs or product pages;
- suspension of a seller account;
- withholding of funds or de-listing of offers;
- disputed changes to the platform’s terms;
- recovery of a domain name;
- acts of unfair competition or free-riding.
Depending on the situation, we can organise the preservation of evidence, activate the platform’s internal procedures, send a cease-and-desist letter or bring out-of-court or court proceedings. Our work can also include customs detention or an infringement seizure.
Promotions, advertising and influencer marketing
We check that promotional and advertising practices are compliant: price reductions, private sales, prize draws, product claims, customer reviews, affiliate campaigns and influencer partnerships.
Our lawyers also secure the rights in your photographs, videos, music, trade marks and other content used or created in those campaigns.
E-commerce matters we have handled
Defending two retailers in a dispute over photographs published online
Bouchara & Avocats defended two fashion retailers accused by a photographer of continuing to use his photographs on their websites and digital archives after the assigned rights had expired. The firm challenged the evidential value of the internet reports produced and showed that the material did not establish unlawful use. The Paris Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal of the infringement and contractual liability claims.
Recovering a domain name used for a fake online store
Bouchara & Avocats represented a French brand in UDRP proceedings targeting a domain name combining its trade mark with the words « online » and « sale ». The website reproduced its logo, its content and purported products so as to present itself as an official store of the brand. WIPO found a likelihood of confusion, no legitimate interest on the part of the holder and bad faith use, and ordered the transfer of the domain name to the brand.
Injunction against the online sale of an infringing design
After finding that a coat reproducing one of its designs was being sold in stores and on several websites, a fashion brand brought proceedings with Bouchara & Avocats based on copyright and on unregistered Community design rights. The Paris Court found infringement, prohibited further sales subject to a daily penalty and awarded damages for commercial and moral prejudice.
Defending an online store blocked after an infringement report
Bouchara & Avocats defended an online retailer whose website had been blocked after a third party reported an alleged trade mark infringement to its host. The firm showed that the company held licence agreements authorising it to sell the products concerned. The Paris Judicial Court dismissed the infringement claims, held that the report which had caused the site to be blocked was wrongful, and awarded damages for disparagement.
Recognised expertise in the legal issues of e-commerce
Bouchara & Avocats is recognised by several leading French and international directories for its expertise in platform law, data protection, advertising and intellectual property. That recognition reflects a practice directly engaged in securing e-commerce operations and defending brands against online infringements.
Chambers France 2026 — Intellectual Property: Trade Mark & Copyright
Vanessa Bouchara — Band 2, thirteen years in the rankings.
Legal 500 EMEA 2026 — France — Intellectual Property: Copyright
Legal 500 EMEA 2026 — France — Intellectual Property: Trade Marks and Designs
Bouchara & Avocats — Tier 2.
Décideurs | Leaders League — Trophées du Droit 2026, Trade mark law category
Bouchara & Avocats — Winner.
Décideurs | Leaders League 2026
« Strong reputation » — Digital platforms and applications law.
« Highly recommended » — Trade marks: litigation.
« Strong reputation » — Data law and cybersecurity.
« Renowned practice » — Advertising and marketing law.
IP STARS — Managing IP 2026
Bouchara & Avocats — Copyright & related rights, Other Notable Firms.
Bouchara & Avocats — Trusted Talent Firms, Intellectual Property.
Vanessa Bouchara — Trade Mark Star.
Lexology Index — formerly Who’s Who Legal
Vanessa Bouchara — Thought Leader, France — IP: Trademarks.
Best Law Firms in France 2026
Bouchara & Avocats — Paris Tier 3, Intellectual Property Law.
Which rules apply to your e-commerce business?
The applicable rules depend on what you sell, who your customers are, the channel you use and the countries you sell into. Those choices then determine the documents you need, the information you must display and the steps to build into the checkout journey.
You sell to consumers
Pre-contractual information, the total price, payment, delivery, guarantees, mediation and the right of withdrawal must all be built into the journey. The essential information must appear before the order is placed: complete terms of sale do not make up for an incomplete product page or basket.
Where a contract subject to the right of withdrawal is concluded online, the trader must also provide a free functionality allowing the consumer to exercise that right (articles L. 221-21 and D. 221-5 of the French Consumer Code).
You sell to businesses
Your terms of sale must deal with prices, payment periods, liability, intellectual property and termination. If your site also addresses consumers, the documents and the journeys must be clearly separated.
You offer a subscription
The length of the commitment, the payment frequency, renewal and the cancellation conditions must be presented before sign-up. That information must appear in the journey, in the terms of sale and in the communications sent to the customer.
You sell physical goods
Product pages must comply with the applicable safety, traceability and information rules. In dropshipping, direct shipping by the supplier does not relieve the seller of its obligations towards the consumer (Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety).
You sell on a marketplace
The platform’s terms govern listing, commissions, payments, access to data and the grounds for suspension. A decision affecting an account or an offer must be examined against those terms and, where it applies, against the Platform to Business Regulation.
You operate a marketplace
Roles must be clearly allocated between the platform, the sellers, the buyers and the payment or logistics providers. The DSA also imposes transparency, notice-and-action and seller traceability obligations.
A marketplace’s liability depends on the role it actually plays
Where it merely hosts third-party sellers’ offers, a marketplace benefits from a limited liability regime: it is liable for unlawful content only if it is notified and fails to act. If, however, it takes a more active role (presenting the products as its own, managing stock, shipping or customer service), it may incur liability. In Louboutin v Amazon of 22 December 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union accepted that a platform could be regarded as itself using a trade mark where its presentation gives the impression that it is selling the product in its own name.
You sell in several European countries
Beware: French terms of sale are not always enough. Even where your terms are governed by French law, consumers in another Member State keep the mandatory protections of their own country’s law where your activity is directed to that State. The checkout journey, the guarantees, the returns and the product-specific rules must therefore be checked market by market (article 6 of the Rome I Regulation on consumer contracts).
A single business can combine several of these models. The journeys and the documents must then be adapted to each category of customer and each sales channel.
The key compliance points of an online store
The product page and the presentation of the offer
The customer must understand what they are buying, at what price and on what terms. The essential characteristics, availability, delivery times, any warnings and the total price must be clearly displayed.
Price reductions and customer reviews are also subject to precise rules: any announcement of a reduction must in principle state the prior price, being the lowest price applied over the preceding thirty days (article L. 112-1-1 of the French Consumer Code). How reviews are collected and published must also be transparent.
The basket, the order and payment
Before paying, the customer must be able to check their order, correct any error and see the total amount due. The confirmation button must state clearly that placing the order entails an obligation to pay.
The terms of sale must be accessible before confirmation, and the main contractual information must be capable of being retained after the purchase.
Accessibility of the checkout journey
The e-commerce services concerned must meet accessibility requirements across the whole user journey, subject to certain exemptions for micro-enterprises (articles D. 412-50 and D. 412-57 of the French Consumer Code).
Delivery, returns and after-sales service
Delivery times, return costs and guarantees must be presented before the order. It is also important to distinguish the right of withdrawal, the statutory guarantee of conformity and your own commercial returns policy, which are governed by different rules.
Consumer mediation
If you sell to consumers, you must allow them free recourse to a mediator and display the mediator’s details on your website and in your contractual documents. References to the former European online dispute resolution platform must now be removed from terms of sale and page footers.
Data and marketing activity
A customer account, a loyalty programme, an abandoned basket, analytics and personalised advertising are all distinct processing operations. For each one, you must determine the legal basis, the information to be provided, the retention period and which providers have access to the data.
The cookie banner must therefore match the tools actually installed on the site, rather than following a generic template.
Protect your trade mark, your creations and your domain name
An e-commerce business rests on several assets protected in different ways. A registered trade mark can support action against certain unauthorised uses of an identical or similar sign. Photographs, texts and graphic works may attract copyright if they are original, while the appearance of a product may be protected as a design where the statutory conditions are met.
A domain name does not have the same effects as an intellectual property right, but it may nonetheless constitute an earlier asset and be the subject of recovery proceedings.
Are you launching a website, challenging a suspension or facing an infringement of your rights?
To secure your online store and protect your intangible assets, our team is at your disposal.
Intellectual Property Lawyers Team
Brand Service
Alexia Vincent
Lawyer
Tehillah-Claire Lumande Nogaro
Trademark Assistant
Frequently asked questions
Which obligations apply to dropshipping and physical products?
The seller remains liable to the consumer for delivery and for the conformity of the product, even where it is shipped directly by a supplier. It must also check the safety information, the traceability of the product and the identity of the responsible economic operator where that is required.
The European general product safety regulation also strengthens the obligations relating to distance offers and marketplaces.
What should you do to report an infringement to a marketplace?
Before reporting the listing, you should first preserve useful evidence and identify the seller. A screenshot may be enough to alert the platform, but not always enough to bring a claim. We therefore secure the evidence before choosing the most appropriate route: a report, a cease-and-desist letter, customs action or infringement proceedings.
Can I display a struck-through price during sales or a promotion?
Yes, provided the reduction is calculated from the correct reference price. That is in principle the lowest price applied by the seller over the thirty days preceding the announcement of the reduction, including during sale periods. A price artificially raised before the operation, or never actually applied, may amount to a misleading commercial practice.
What should you check before selling or acquiring an e-commerce business?
The due diligence should cover in particular the domain name, the software, the photographs, the customer database, the contracts with suppliers and service providers, the marketplace accounts, the stock and the intellectual property licences and assignments.
Transferring an online business does not automatically allow all customer data or all content to be reused. The lawfulness of the transfer, the information given to individuals and the chain of title must be checked before the documents are drawn up.
A competitor has bought my trade mark as an advertising keyword: is that allowed?
Buying a competitor’s trade mark as a keyword is not, in itself, prohibited. What matters is the content of the advertisement displayed. It becomes objectionable where internet users cannot readily tell whether the offer comes from the trade mark owner, from an undertaking connected to it, or from an independent competitor. The wording of the advertisement and the page it links to must therefore be examined case by case: if they create confusion as to the origin of the goods or services, the use may be actionable.
Can the DGCCRF inspect me without notice?
Yes. The DGCCRF can inspect a website, attend the company’s premises or request documents without prior notice. For an online retailer, its checks may cover the checkout journey, prices, promotions, customer reviews, product claims and consumer information.
What can you do if a supplier abruptly stops supplying you?
You should first examine the contract, the volumes concerned, the notice given and the reason for the termination. Where a commercial relationship is terminated, even partially, without sufficient written notice, the party responsible may incur liability, save in cases of breach of contract or force majeure. Acting quickly makes it possible to preserve the evidence, negotiate temporary continuity and assess the available remedies (article L. 442-1, II of the French Commercial Code).
What can you do if a payment provider freezes the funds of an online store?
The first step is to identify the reason for the freeze and check the applicable terms: identity verification, fraud risk, chargebacks, the constitution of a reserve or an activity treated as prohibited. Order, delivery and refund records should be assembled before sending a structured challenge to the provider. Depending on the urgency and the cash-flow impact, a cease-and-desist letter or court proceedings may be considered.
