IP is a legal specialty whose purpose is to protect any form of creation stemming from human ingenuity: inventions, trademarks, designs, literary and artistic works, software, industrial know-how, etc. It is divided into two main categories: industrial property and literary and artistic property, also commonly called copyright.
Industrial property protects technical or industrial creations (patents, trademarks, designs and models), while copyright protects artistic and literary works (books, music, software).
To secure your competitive advantage, value your company, generate revenue (licenses, sales), and deter counterfeiters. IP is an essential intangible asset.
No, in order not to stifle all forms of creativity, IP does not protect ideas but rather the way in which they materialize technologically, in terms of design, etc. For the system to work, it is essential to find a balance between the monopoly that some acquire through IP and the necessary freedom to create that must be granted to others while respecting everyone's rights.
The acronym NDA, widely used in business, stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement, or confidentiality agreement. This contractual document allows an inventor or, more broadly, the holder of any sensitive information to freely discuss it with a third party under seal of secrecy, without this exchange being considered as a disclosure destructive of novelty. An NDA is a contract requiring, for greater security, the services of an industrial property counsel. Many standardized templates circulating on the internet are not capable of properly protecting you.
A trademark is a distinctive sign (word, logo, slogan, etc.) intended to guarantee the origin of a product or service. It allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors and is a remarkable tool for market conquest.
Registering a trademark is the most effective way to obtain a monopoly on a distinctive sign. Merely using a name in business, even for years, does not give you a monopoly on it (unless that name also constitutes your company's registered name, trade name, sign, or an exploited domain name). Owning a trademark allows you to prohibit a competitor from using it in business identically or similarly for all products and services covered by your filing and all similar products and/or services where there is a risk of confusion.
A trademark is protected for a period of 10 years, indefinitely renewable.
A competitor can register it before you, forcing you to change it and redo all your visual and commercial identity. You will have no recourse against counterfeiting.
Yes, in France. For protection in the European Union, you must file a European Union trademark (EUTM) with the EUIPO. To be protected outside Europe, you should file an international trademark through INPI.
The concept of a worldwide trademark does not exist. However, after registering your trademark in France, an international procedure can be activated that allows you to have protection in a large number of countries, without having to use the local language and currency of each or be represented there.
A domain name and a trademark are two different things. Reserving the former with an accredited naming authority allows its holder to open an access point to their website. Registering the latter protects the various elements composing your commercial identity (name, logo, colors, slogan, etc.). However, once reserved and provided it is distinctive, nothing prevents you from registering your domain name as a trademark for better protection.
You should react quickly and contact your industrial property counsel. Depending on the situation, they may file an opposition to the registration of the later trademark that bothers you, send a formal notice to this unscrupulous competitor, or take legal action with the assistance of a lawyer.
Yes, a logo is a figurative trademark. A word is a word trademark. You can also register mixed trademarks (logo and text).
No, but it is strongly recommended. It allows you to verify that a similar or identical trademark is not already registered, thus avoiding a rejection or an infringement action. It should be noted that it is not INPI's responsibility to conduct this search for you.
The cost of a trademark varies depending on the number of classes of products and services designated during filing, regardless of whether you have designated one product or a thousand under each class. Expect approximately €190 for a French trademark for one class. Attorney fees are added to these costs.
No. Once registered, the representation of the trademark can no longer be modified and the list of products and services it designates can no longer be extended. However, it can be restricted if necessary.
No, copyright protection is not subject to any registration, as the creation of the work constitutes the triggering event for its immediate protection. However, it should be noted that copyright protection is subject to the originality of the work concerned.
It is an original work, i.e., bearing the imprint of its author's personality, whose reproduction and distribution cannot occur without their authorization.
Copyrights are protected in France throughout the author's lifetime and 70 years after their death.
The source code and object code of software can indeed be protected by copyright.
Counterfeiting is an infringement consisting of reproducing, imitating or using the protected creation of a third party, without having been previously authorized.
They are civil (damages) and/or criminal (fines, imprisonment).
Yes, it is essential to do so to specify who owns the creations made by employees.
Domain names do not strictly constitute industrial property titles. However, given the strategic value they can sometimes have for their holders, they can be protected by an action for unfair competition or by a trademark registration. It should be noted that according to consistent case law, the mere reservation of a domain name confers no rights on its owner, as this is conditional on the activation of the site to which it provides access.
A non-patentable invention does not meet the conditions of novelty, inventive step or industrial application. Examples: a calculation method, a scientific theory.
Often, it begins with a formal notice. If there is no agreement, it may continue with legal action before specialized courts or before INPI.
The National Institute of Industrial Property is the French office that issues patents, trademarks and designs and models. It is an essential contact for everything related to industrial property in France.
A patent is an industrial property title that grants its holder a monopoly on the exploitation of an invention, i.e., on the technical solution to a technical problem. Patent protection cannot exceed 20 years, and the holder must pay an annual maintenance fee called an annuity.
To be patentable, an invention must be new (unknown to the public), show inventive step (i.e., not be an obvious solution to a person skilled in the art) and be susceptible of industrial application (i.e., capable of being manufactured industrially or implemented in industry).
Absolutely not. The law requires that an invention must be new on the day it is filed for a patent. If you exhibit it (trade show, internet, specialized journals, etc.) before filing, it will no longer be new. Your invention will also not be patentable if after filing it appears that it had already been disclosed by someone else, regardless of location or time. Similarly, if carrying your project requires you to discuss it with third parties before filing your patent, it is imperative to file an E-Soleau (to date your creation and prove you had possession) and to subject any exchange to an NDA (confidentiality agreement).
No. A patent protects neither the idea nor the results that this new technology achieves, but more precisely the technical means to achieve said results. In fact, if a competitor achieves the same result as mine but by other means, I cannot sue them for infringement.
20 years maximum, provided you pay an annual maintenance fee whose amount increases from the 5th annuity up to the 20th.
No, a patent grants its holder a territorial right. For protection abroad, you must file applications in each country or use international (PCT) or regional (European patent) procedures. You should be careful and organized because after filing a French patent, you have a maximum period of twelve months (called the priority period) to extend the effects of your French patent abroad. After this period, your invention will only be protected in France and all your competitors will be free to manufacture and sell it anywhere else without being counterfeiters. However, they will not be able to file a patent on your invention in other countries, because having already been filed in France, it will no longer be considered new.
Costs vary considerably depending on the country, attorney fees and procedure costs. Procedure costs are rather modest in France (less than €600 for the first year and €39 per year for the following four years). Adding the fees of the attorney mandated to draft your patent application, you should expect several thousand euros. But never forget that the cost of filing a patent must be assessed in light of the economic and competitive advantage it is intended to provide.
By selling your invention without patenting it, you are about to disclose it and permanently ruin any prospect of a subsequent patent filing. Because once disclosed, this invention is no longer new and without novelty it is no longer patentable.
A design or model constitutes an industrial property title whose purpose is to protect the purely ornamental features of a product or place (its appearance, design, shape, colors, patterns, etc.).
A patent protects the technical solution to a technical problem. Copyright protects non-technical works of the mind. Design and model protects aesthetics, regardless of any technical or utilitarian considerations.
A design and model is protected in France for a period of 5 years, renewable upon payment of a fee, up to a maximum of 25 years.
Whenever its design is likely to contribute to the success of your product. Ideally, your model should be registered before it is revealed to the public. Even though INPI does not conduct any search to verify this, the protection of your model is conditional on its novelty. If you happen to disclose your creation before registering it, a grace period of twelve months would be granted to purge this disclosure by filing a model.
As early as possible, ideally before the commercial launch of your product or service. In some cases, disclosure can compromise the intended protection.
Patents and trade secrets are often presented as alternative methods of protection, when in fact they are most often complementary. If you are the inventor of a product or process that can be reverse-engineered, your best method of protection undoubtedly lies in filing a patent. Because in this case, without a patent, preserving the secret becomes simply impossible. Anyone can buy your product for the sole purpose of taking it apart and understanding how it works. On the other hand, if the marketing of your product does not reveal its making, you may consider keeping its design secret. But if one day this secret were to escape you, you would have lost everything.
It is a study that aims to ensure that you can freely exploit your product or service without infringing on the IP rights of third parties. It is crucial before launch.
A license is a contract by which the holder of an IP right (the licensor) authorizes a third party (the licensee) to use it, in exchange for a royalty. Similar to a rental contract, the license contract has no impact on the ownership of the IP title concerned.
When a product protected by an IP right has been distributed in the European Union by its holder or with their consent, they can no longer oppose its resale and more broadly its circulation throughout the world. For example, after selling a book, the author can no longer oppose its second-hand resale.