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Yves Plasseraud

Yves Plasseraud (born June 24, 1939) is a French-born doctor of law in intellectual property, a researcher and lecturer and a minority rights advocate. He is notably a founder and long-time president of ‘Groupement pour les Droits des minorités' (Grouping for the Rights of Minorities), author or editor of numerous books and publications. He is also an expert on Eastern Europe, specifically the Baltic States.

Early life and background

Graduate studies

Plasseraud's thesis, "La protection des inventions en URSS et dans les républiques populaires d’Europe" (The Protection of Inventions in the USSR and the Popular Republics of Europe), was the first study in French on the protection of inventions in Eastern countries. It was amended and published by Litec in collaboration with Martine Hiance in 1969. A second work titled '<nowiki/>Brevets et sous-développement. La protection des inventions dans les pays du tiers monde (Patents and Underdevelopment: The Protection of Inventions in Third World Countries), also co-authored with Martine Hiance, was published by Litec in 1972.

Personal life

Plasseraud is married to Suzanne Pourchier-Plasseraud with whom he co-authored several books and articles.

Intellectual property

Legal career

After returning from Strasbourg in 1966, Plasseraud worked for Cabinet Plasseraud, becoming a partner in 1974.

In 1984, Plasseraud left Cabinet Plasseraud and co-founded the firm Ernest Gutmann-Yves Plasseraud (EGYP) with Ernest Gutmann, son of Rodolphe Gutmann. During these years, Yves was active in a number of professional associations.

Throughout his professional years, Plasseraud published several works focusing on topics such as the origins of patent law (in collaboration with François Savignon), as well as trademark law and geographical indications.

During many years, Yves was a member of the group of experts who drafted the modern law on Patents for developing countries. He was later a member of another group who drafted the European Trademarks convention.

In 1995, Plasseraud left EGYP to concentrate on his research and writing and devote time to the field of minorities protection.

In 2018, returning to the field of intellectual property, he co-authored a book titled ‘Typicité : valorisation du patrimoine’ with his daughter which presents several decades of experience in how regions enhance the recognition of terroirs and their products.

Minority rights

In 1996 Plasseraud together with a small group of activists, including Gérard Chaliand (writer), Alain Fenet (professor of law), and Olivier Mongin (philosopher and journalist), launched the Groupement pour les Droits des Minorités (GDM), following the pattern of the British Minority Rights Group (MRG).

After having acted as Secretary General for some years, Plasseraud became the president of the GDM.

GDM was responsible for organizing numerous conferences on minority themes. The proceedings were published, either through Parisian publishers or by GDM self-publishing. GDM was represented at various drafting meetings of the Council of Europe and European Community as well as that of the European charter for regional and minority languages. Plasseraud also lectured at the Paris International College of Defense (CID) on minorities and geopolitics.

Extraterritorial cultural autonomy is a field that Yves Plasseraud has researched and written papers on. This concept relates to the protection of the rights of individuals regardless of the territory where they live. It has seen many successful applications in history, from the Ottoman millet court to the Hungarian Law of 1993.

Baltic States

Another area of enduring interest for Plasseraud is the future and the status of the Baltic States and their minorities. After writing various articles on this topic, Plasseraud published his first book about it in 1989. He subsequently wrote close to ten books on this subject. He especially researched the Jews of the Baltic region, particularly the Litvaks of former Lithuania, and published several works in collaboration with Henri Minczeles. Plasseraud was also directly involved in the process of investigating the Holocaust in the Baltic States and particularly in Lithuania through conferences and interviews. He was also invited to participate in meetings concerning the integration of the Russian speaking communities in the Estonian and Latvian societies.

Yves Plasseraud was the president of Association France-Estonie in 1991-1995. He was also instrumental, together with Suzanne Champonnois, in founding the Association France-Lettonie in 1996.

In 2015, Plasseraud published Irena Versaité: Tolerance and Involvement, a biography of his long-standing friend Irena Veisaite, a Holocaust survivor and outstanding cultural and human rights activist in Vilnius

For his service to the Baltic countries, Plasseraud was awarded:

Devoting himself to promoting awareness and advocating for the rights of ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities, he made numerous interventions and wrote or edited about ten books on these topics, including Atlas Européen des minorités (European Atlas of Minorities) published by Autrement (2005).

Since 2000 Plasseraud has been a member of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), attending the yearly conventions in Columbia University in New York, delivering lectures and chairing roundtables.

Bibliography (non-exhaustive)

Intellectual property

Personal works and books written in collaboration

Collective works

  • European Patent Law and Practice, (M. Stiefel & J. Gevers), Practising Law Institute, New York, 1970.
  • Piraterie et contrefaçon de marques dans les pays du Marché commun, Paris, EGYP, 1985.
  • De Dienstmerken, Les marques de service, RDC-TBH, Bruxelles, 1987
  • Die Neuregelung des gewerblichen Rechtschutzes in China, GRUR Abhandlungen, Munich, 1988.
  • Interfaces between Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Designations of Origin in Europe, ECTA, Crète, May 24–27, 2000.
  • Les instruments juridiques reconnus par l’OMC: IGP, marques collectives, certifications, labels, in Les ressources génétiques végétales et le droit dans les rapports Nord-Sud, Bruylant, 2004.

Articles

  • “Droit communautaire des ententes”, Bulletin de la Compagnie des Conseils en propriété industrielle (CBI).
  • "La nouvelle loi française sur les brevets", Rassegna della proprietà Industriale Litteraria Artistica (RPILA), N° 14- December–January, 1967.
  • “Le commerce Est-Ouest et la propriété industrielle”, RPILA, Milan, 1968.
  • “La marque de spécialité pharmaceutique”, CBI Informations, N°11 March 1975
  • “La recherche d’antériorités en matière de marques”, CBI Informations, n° 15, 3° trimester 1976.
  • “Marques et langues régionales”, Revue de propriété Industrielle, Litttéraire et Artistique (RIPIA), ca. 1976.
  • “Droit communautaire des ententes”, Bulletin de la Compagnie des Conseils en propriété industrielle (CBI).
  • “La marque de fabrique, de commerce ou de service dans l’industrie pharmaceutique”, Bulletin de l’Ordre des pharmaciens N° 278, October - November 1984.
  • “Ancré dans le terroir français… le système des appellations d’origine”, Le Monde diplomatique, April 1988.
  • “La lucrative industrie de la contrefaçon”, Le Monde diplomatique, April 1988.
  • “La déclaration française des droits de l’homme et sa filiation. La protection des inventions" (décrets de January et May 1791), Droits d’auteurs et droits de l’homme, INPI, 16 et 17 June 1989.
  • "Intellectual Property Enforcement Practices in the Judiciary, Customs and Police". OMC/OMPI/OSIM, Mangalia (Ro), June 6–8, 2001.

Works on the subject of minorities and identity

Personal works and books written in collaboration

Collective works

Articles

  • “Do Ethnic Minorities exist in France in 1984?”, Razprave in Gradivo, December 1984, page 53-61.
  • “Ali v letu 1984 v Franciji obsajajo manjsine?”, Razprave in Gradivo, 12, 1984.
  • “Le bilinguisme dans l’enseignement en France: le cas des langues régionales”, Razprave in Gradivo (Treatises and Documents), N° 18, March 1986.
  • “L’identité”, Article 31, August 1986.
  • “Éveils minoritaires et luttes d’émancipation nationales: essai de typologie”, Études polémologiques, N°43, March 1987.
  • “Pourquoi l’identité? Pourquoi les luttes culturelles?”, Le Peuple Breton, July/August 1987.
  • “Identité : Yves Plasseraud répond”, Le Peuple breton, December 1987.
  • “Les identités culturelles contre le racisme”, Celsius, December 1987.
  • “Droit à la différence ou société métisse?”, Celsius, January 1988.
  • “Lumières et ombres de l’identité ethnique”, Razprave in gradivo (Treaties and Documents), St.21, December 1988.
  • “Un peuple moral”, Land un Sproch, December 1988.
  • “Moldavie soviétique et conscience identitaire roumaine”, Celsius, July–August 1989.
  • “Moldavie soviétique et conscience identitaire roumaine”, Le Peuple Breton, January 1990.
  • “Le nationalisme albanais”, Le Peuple Breton, June 1990.
  • “Indépendantisme, autonomisme, le terrorisme régional est minoritaire”, (Interview d’Antoine Fouchet), La Croix, June 11, 1990.
  • “Minorités nationales, nationalisme et racisme en Europe de l’Est”, MRAX – Information (Bruxelles), N° 59, June 1990.
  • “Pour ou contre l’identité ? Identitarisme, nationalisme et exclusion”, Peuple Breton, July - August 1992.
  • “Minorités et régions”, Les enjeux de l’Europe, N° 9, Autumn 1992.
  • “Les minorités ethniques ou nationales en Europe centrale et orientale; handicap ou richesse?”, Diagonales Est - Ouest, N°9, April 1993.
  • “La conscience d’être différent”, Courrier de l’UNESCO, June 1993.
  • “Les minorités, enjeu géopolitique”, Le Peuple Breton, January 1994.
  • “Le retour du nationalisme ethnique”, Ar Falz, N° 82–83, 1994.
  • “Rencontre, Militant des droits des minorités”, La lettre de la rue Saint Guillaume, 57, November 1993.
  • “L’autonomie culturelle personnelle et les minorités nationales dispersées”, Le Peuple breton, November 1997.
  • “Les minorités en Ukraine”, La Nouvelle Alternative, September 1999,
  • “L’histoire oubliée de l’autonomie culturelle”, Le Monde diplomatique, May 2000.
  • “Le révisionnisme breton …Encore un mot …”, Diasporiques, November 2000.
  • “États - nations et minorités en Europe”, Plurielles, Les Juifs et l’Europe, N°9, 2001.
  • “Un jour avec …Yves Plasseraud, «défenseur des minorités», Le Peuple breton, May 2004.
  • “Plus on est à l’aise dans son identité, plus on est accueillant envers les autres”, La Croix, May 28, 2004.
  • "Minorités et Nouvelle Europe", Le Courrier des pays de l’Est, 2005/6 (n° 1052)
  • “Les minorités nationales en Pologne, 1918-1945”, F. Bafoil (Dir. ) La Pologne, Fayard-Ceri, Paris, 2007.
  • "Protection des minorités et autonomie culturelle" in Nations et territoires : Quelles institutions ?, Confluences méditerranéennes, Vol. 73, Spring 2010.
  • “«Old» and «new» Minorities: The pro and contra of Similar Treatment, an Inclusion unaffordable? The uncertain fate of integration Policies in Europe”, Providus, Riga, 2010.
  • “National minorities/ New minorities. What similarities and differences in contemporary Europe?<sup>”</sup>, Sens public, 2010.
  • “Minorités et autonomie culturelle”, La Bretagne au monde, Hopala, N°44, 2014.
  • “Ukraine-Russie : Une instrumentalisation des minorités”, Médiapart, 17 March 2014.
  • “Réforme territoriale: promouvoir des régions charnelles”, with H. Giordan, Mediapart, 24 September 2014.
  • “Les Setos”, Le Peuple breton, 2016.
  • “Région et régionalisme: La longue histoire du régionalisme français, le régionalisme alsacien”, Elsass (published online), N° 2, January 2017.

Podcasts

Works on the Baltic States

Personal works and books written in collaboration

Collective works

Articles

Podcasts

Various other works

Personal works and books written in collaboration

Collective works

Articles

References