Patent registration in France. France, officially the French Republic, is a transcontinental country spanning Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. France is a member of the Group of Seven leading industrialized countries and an economic power. For roughly two centuries, the French economy has consistently ranked among the ten largest globally. It is currently the world’s ninth-largest by purchasing power parity, the seventh-largest by nominal GDP, and the second largest in the EU by both metrics. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in France.
Patent in France
According to the Law of France, a patent in France will only be granted to the applicant if the invention qualifies the following requirements:
- Be new.
- Involve an inventive step.
- Be capable of industrial application.
On the other hand, the subjects that are not patentable in France include:
- Discoveries, scientific theories, and mathematical methods.
- Aesthetic creations.
- Schemes, rules, and methods for performing a mental act, playing a game or conducting business, and computer programs.
- Presentations of information.
- Methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body.
- Inventions whose commercial exploitation would be inconsistent with public policy or morality.
- The human body is at the various stages of its formation and development.
- Animal varieties.
- Plant varieties.
- Essentially biological processes for the production of plants and animals.
- Processes for modifying the genetic identity of animals.
The procedure for patent registration in France
To obtain a patent in France, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the IP Office of France (the National Industrial Property Office – INPI).
The patent application will then undergo a formality examination to check if it complies with the requirements to be patentable in France.
If there are no errors, the substantive examination will take place as there is no requirement to submit a specific request for conducting the substantive examination.
It should be noted that one of the most rejected reasons during the patent registration process in France is that the subject matter of the application could not “obviously” be considered as a patentable invention or if the invention was not new. From May 22, 2020, the inventive step criterion is also examined by the INPI.
The opposition by third parties must be filed within 9 months following the publication of the notification of the grant of the patent.
Opposition decisions from the French patent office can be appealed before the Paris Court of Appeal.
If there are no oppositions or the applicant wins the opposition action, the patent will be granted.
The validity period for a patent in France
In France, a patent is protected for 20 years from the filing date.
For pharmaceutical and phytopharmaceutical patents, the protection period can be extended for a specific additional period of time.
Utility certificates can be obtained for a period of 10 years.
Patent protection starts as soon as the patent application is published.
Annuities become due on the last day of the month of filing and may not be paid more than one year before the due date.
Late payment is possible within 6 months after the due date provided that the patentee may a late payment penalty fee.
You can see a list of France IP firms here.