Claire Karsenti’s article on the assessment of damage to reputation has been published in issue 4-2022 of the journal *Concurrences*
With companies and their brands increasingly exposed to online media, it is now rare to find claims for compensation for infringement, unfair competition or the abrupt termination of established commercial relationships that do not include damages for damage to reputation. However, unlike other categories of loss, damage arising from damage to reputation is often poorly documented, assessed on a lump-sum basis or even included within a general claim for non-pecuniary damage. Consequently, the vast majority of these insufficiently substantiated claims are either dismissed by the courts or awarded lump-sum compensation in symbolic amounts. This paradoxical situation, in which the victim is aware of the importance of their reputation but is unable to substantiate the assessment of the consequences of damage to that reputation, has led to the development of methodological approaches validated by case law but still poorly understood by practitioners.
In light of landmark decisions on this subject and recent judgements, this article examines the basis for damages arising from damage to reputation and the methods for assessing them, with a view to better justifying such claims before the courts and obtaining fair compensation.
See decisions: Paris Court of Appeal, Chamber 5-2, 3 September 2010, RG 08/12821; Paris Court of Appeal, Chamber 5-5, 7 May 2015, RG 14/01588; Paris Court of Appeal, Div. 5-4, 16 March 2022, RG 21/00684, Paris Court of Appeal, Div. 5-4, 5 January 2022, RG 17/02924, Paris Court of Appeal, Div. 5-1, 1 February 2022, Case No. 20/03318, Paris Court of Appeal, Div. 5-2, 15 April 2022, Case No. 20/15209.
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