French trademark registration process:

The departments that accept French trademark registration are the National Industrial Property Office and various commercial courts. Therefore, there are two ways to register a trademark in France: first, the trademark applicant registers with the National Industrial Property Office (Paris headquarters or one of the seven branches mentioned above); second, registers with the Commercial Court (TRIBUNALDECOMMERCE) in the region where the company is located. These two registration methods have the same legal effect.

Trademark applicants can be legal persons and natural persons.

The specific process of French trademark registration is as follows:

1. Trademark design

Gu Bang’s trademark design mainly highlights the following advantages:

( 1) Originality, that is, the design of the trademark must be innovative; on the one hand, it must meet the requirements of distinctiveness; on the other hand, a creative trademark can easily expand the popularity of the product and quickly occupy the market.

(2) The name of the trademark should avoid being associated with the function of the product;

(3) The design of the trademark should highlight the theme and be reasonably laid out.

2. Trademark query

Although the query result is not equal to the examination result, a report on the prior trademark record of the trademark can be obtained from the French Industrial Property Office, which will greatly influence the entire registration application process. The risk is greatly reduced, and applicants are recommended to choose government system query services.

3. Submit application

Materials required for application:

Applicant’s qualification certificate/clear trademark drawing/goods or services sought to be registered/ Trademark registration power of attorney/related fees

4. Acceptance notice

After receiving the trademark registration application information, the French National Industrial Property Office will first review the application form and all attachments in detail to check Whether the required parts of the form have been filled in, whether the relevant information is correct, whether the required information is incomplete, and whether the fees are paid in full. If everything is in order, an application number will be given and an acceptance notice will be issued. It will take about one month.

5. Review

After receiving the trademark registration application form, the French National Industrial Property Office will review the trademark to decide whether to approve its registration.

Focus on the review of the following three aspects:

Trademark legality regulations: National Industrial Property Rights has a period of 4 months after receiving an application to review whether the trademark violates relevant regulations. Whether the trademark words and graphics are suitable as trademarks.

Trademark legality review: The National Industrial Property Office will publish the trademark application within 6 weeks after receiving it. All companies that believe that the same or similar trademark has been registered can raise objections. The procedure is to go to the National Industrial Property Office to fill in an “OPPOSITIONAL’ENREGISTIEMENT” and explain in detail your reasons and basis.

Whether the application form is filled in correctly: If the State Industrial Property Office believes that the applied trademark does not meet the above two standards, it will refuse to approve the trademark. If a trademark application is rejected by the National Industrial Property Office, the applicant files an appeal with the Court of Appeal (COUR D’APPEL) and requests the National Industrial Property Office to re-examine the application.

6. Announcement

Once the French Industrial Property Office approves the trademark application, the trademark is allowed to be gazetted. The date of announcement will be notified to the applicant by letter. The announcement period lasts for three months, and objections can be raised within two months after the announcement. If no objection is raised or the objection is not established, the trademark can be approved for registration.

7. Registration

After the trademark registration application is approved, the detailed information of the trademark will be recorded in the registration book and a registration certificate will be issued to the applicant. In addition, the Registrar of Trademarks will publish the relevant registration notice in the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Gazette. The registration date will be retroactive to the date of filing of the application. In other words, the rights of the owner of the registered trademark shall be calculated from the date of filing of the application.