I had this error and other related ones, when I imported at 16 GB SQL file. For me, editing my.ini and setting the following (based on several different posts) in the [mysqld] section:
max_allowed_packet = 110M
innodb_buffer_pool_size=511M
innodb_log_file_size=500M
innodb_log_buffer_size = 800M
net_read_timeout = 600
net_write_timeout = 600
If you are running under Windows, go to the control panel, services, and look at the details for MySQL and you will see where my.ini is. Then after you edit and save my.ini, restart the mysql service (or restart the computer).
If you are using HeidiSQL, you can also set some or all of these using that.