Questions U.S. businesses ask about EU & French trademarks.

French trademarks are filed with the INPI (the French IP office), entirely online — no local presence and no paperwork by mail. You select the sign (word mark, logo, or both), draft the list of goods and services under the Nice classification, and pay the official fee. The INPI examines the application and publishes it about three weeks after filing, which opens a two-month window for third parties to oppose. If there is no office objection and no opposition, the registration certificate issues roughly five months after filing.

Two points matter more than the form itself: the sign must be distinctive and lawful, and the specification can never be broadened later — goods and services can only be removed after filing, not added. A clearance search before filing significantly reduces the risk of refusal or opposition.

Step-by-step details: French trademark registration.

For a French application, count roughly five months from filing to the registration certificate, assuming the INPI raises no objection and no opposition is filed. The application is published about three weeks after filing, which starts a two-month opposition window. For an EU trademark, the certificate typically issues in about four months; the opposition window there is three months.

Protection, once granted, runs from the filing date — not the registration date — so time spent in examination is not lost. If an objection or an opposition does come in, the timeline extends by several months [VERIFY: typical duration of contested French/EU opposition proceedings].

More detail on each route: French trademark registration and EU trademark registration.

Yes. The French filing procedure is entirely online, and there is no requirement to appear in person, mail physical documents, or maintain an office in France. Our firm runs the whole process remotely for US clients: a call or email exchange to define the sign and the goods and services, a draft application sent for your approval so the filing matches your actual business, then filing and follow-up with the INPI through to registration.

The same is true for an EU trademark filed with the EUIPO, although companies with no domicile or real and effective establishment in the EEA must be represented by a qualified European professional representative in all proceedings before that office other than the mere filing of the application (Article 120 EUTMR).

See French trademark registration, or contact us to get started.

Most trademarks filed in France and the EU are word marks — the name alone, in standard characters — or figurative marks, meaning a logo with or without text (a logo combined with words is often called a semi-figurative or combined mark). The registers also accept less common formats: color marks, three-dimensional (shape) marks, sound marks, motion marks, multimedia marks (image plus sound), position marks, and pattern marks.

A word mark is the most common choice and protects the name itself in standard characters; a figurative filing protects the specific visual presentation. Companies with a distinctive logo often file both. Collective marks also exist and require filing regulations governing who may use the mark and how.

Guidance on picking the right format: choosing a trademark. Definitions of each mark type are in our glossary.

Yes. A logo is filed in France as a figurative trademark: you submit an image file (JPEG) with the application, in black and white or in color. The official fee is the same as for a word mark — there is no surcharge for a logo — so a one-class French filing costs €190 in official fees either way.

Two practical notes for US companies. First, a logo can alternatively (or additionally) be protected as a registered design, which covers the graphic work itself rather than its function as a brand. Second, if the name matters more than the styling, consider a word mark first or alongside the logo, since a figurative registration protects the version as filed.

See French trademark registration and the fee overview in trademark fees and costs.

France and the EU use the Nice classification, an international system of 45 classes: classes 1–34 cover goods, classes 35–45 cover services. Your application must list the specific goods and services you want protection for — apparel, for instance, falls in class 25. The class numbers themselves are administrative; what counts legally is the wording of the list.

One rule US filers should know before filing: the specification can never be broadened after filing. You can delete or narrow goods and services, but you cannot add any. An overly narrow filing cannot be fixed later, while an overly broad one becomes vulnerable to revocation for the goods you never actually use.

Official fees are charged per class — see trademark fees and costs. Drafting strategy is covered in French trademark registration.

As early as possible. France and the EU are first-to-file systems: rights come from registration, not from use, so every day without a filing is a day a third party could register the name first. Filing before launch creates a prior right enforceable against later applicants and publicly signals your claim to the name.

You do not need to be using the mark to file. After registration you have five years to begin genuine use before the mark becomes vulnerable to revocation for non-use — ample runway for a European market entry.

If you have a recent US application, you may be able to claim its priority date for the French or EU filing, provided the European filing is made within the six-month priority window of the Paris Convention.

See French trademark registration and EU trademark registration.

A registrable trademark in France and the EU must be distinctive and lawful, and it must not collide with earlier rights. Descriptive terms are refused: a mark may suggest qualities of the product, but it cannot simply describe it.

Coined words such as Xerox or Kodak sit at the strong end of the spectrum — they appear in no dictionary, so they are highly distinctive. Ordinary dictionary words can still make excellent marks when they are arbitrary for the goods: Apple works for computers precisely because the company does not sell fruit. As a rule, the more unusual the sign, the broader the protection it earns; the trade-off is against marketing’s preference for names the public immediately understands.

More on this balance in choosing a trademark — and always confirm availability with a clearance search before committing.

Start with the public registers: data.inpi.fr lists all French trademarks, and TMview aggregates French, EU, and international registrations. But a raw database search only answers half the question. Conflicts arise not just from identical marks but from similar ones — visually, phonetically, or conceptually — and French clearance also has to account for earlier company names, trade names, and domain names, which can constitute prior rights.

Reading the results is the real work: whether an earlier similar mark actually blocks yours depends on the goods and services involved and on likelihood of confusion, which is a legal assessment, not a list lookup. That is why we recommend a professional clearance search before any filing or rebranding budget is committed.

For a search scoped to your project, contact us.

Official INPI fees are €190 for one class of goods or services and €40 for each additional class — a three-class French filing therefore costs €270 in official fees. Extending protection to French Polynesia, which requires a specific option, adds €60.

If you want the filing handled by specialist counsel — clearance advice, drafting the specification, managing the procedure — our fee for a one-class French filing is €500 excluding VAT, on top of the official fees. For a US company, French VAT is not charged on legal fees billed to a business established outside the EU (Article 259-1° of the French Tax Code) — fees can be billed in EUR or USD.

Full breakdown, including multi-class scenarios and EU filings: trademark fees and costs. For what the fees buy, see French trademark registration.

An EU trademark is a single registration covering every EU member state — one filing, one fee schedule, no per-country charges. The official EUIPO fees are €850 for one class, €50 for the second class and €150 for each class beyond the second, and attorney fees come on top, as with a French filing.

For a US company weighing budgets, the arithmetic usually favors the EU trademark once more than a couple of European countries matter: 27 countries are covered for far less than separate national filings would cost. The French national route remains cheaper in absolute terms (€190 in official fees for one class) if France is genuinely the only market in play.

Compare the two routes in EU trademark registration, and see the complete picture in trademark fees and costs.

No. If the application is refused — for lack of distinctiveness, for example — or defeated in an opposition, the INPI keeps the filing fee. There is no refund mechanism.

It is possible to file without counsel, but this is where the economics of self-filing break down: a refused application costs the full official fee plus months of lost time, and refiling a corrected application means paying the fee twice. A pre-filing clearance search and careful drafting of the sign and the specification are consistently cheaper than a refusal.

The full cost picture, including contested scenarios, is set out in trademark fees and costs.

Because in France and the EU, trademark rights flow from registration. A registration gives you a prior right that blocks later applications for the same or a confusingly similar name; it puts your claim on the public register, where diligent competitors will find it and steer clear; and it is the ticket to every enforcement tool — opposition before the INPI or EUIPO, cancellation actions, and infringement litigation with injunctions and damages.

A registered mark is also an asset in its own right: it can be sold independently of the underlying business, and it can even outlive the company that created it. Unregistered use, by contrast, is precarious — it builds little enforceable value and can be upended by a third party’s filing.

See French trademark registration and, on the enforcement side, trademark infringement in France.

No. Trademark rights are territorial: neither a USPTO registration nor US common-law use gives you rights in France. French law is explicit — under Article L712-1 of the Intellectual Property Code, trademark ownership is acquired by registration. There is no French equivalent of common-law rights built through use, with one narrow exception for well-known marks, a high bar reserved for genuinely famous brands.

The practical consequence: a competitor can register your brand in France or the EU before you do, and your US seniority will not, by itself, undo that. US companies doing or planning business in Europe should register in Europe — through a French filing, an EU trademark, or the Madrid Protocol — rather than rely on rights that stop at the US border.

A registered French trademark gives its owner an exclusive right in the sign for the goods and services covered. You can stop third parties from using an identical sign for identical goods, and any identical or similar sign for identical or similar goods where there is a likelihood of confusion.

Procedurally, the registration is a weapon on several fronts: it grounds oppositions against later trademark applications before the INPI, cancellation (invalidity) actions against registered marks — also before the INPI — and infringement actions before the courts, where you can obtain injunctions and damages. An EU trademark gives equivalent rights across all member states.

See trademark infringement in France for court enforcement, and opposition proceedings for blocking conflicting applications before they register.

Only to a limited extent. A pending application carries fewer rights than a registered mark. You can file an opposition against a later conflicting application on the basis of your pending application, but the opposition will be suspended until your own mark registers. For court action, the sound approach is to wait for registration: depending on the procedure, proceedings based on a mark that is merely filed can be stayed.

Once the certificate issues, the full toolkit opens up — oppositions and cancellation actions before the INPI, and infringement claims before the French courts, including damages. The good news: a French registration typically issues about five months after filing, so the wait is usually short.

See trademark opposition and trademark infringement in France.

Ten years, counted from the filing date — not the registration date. The registration can then be renewed indefinitely in successive ten-year periods, each calculated from the original filing date. There is no cap on the number of renewals: as long as the renewal fees are paid, protection continues. The same ten-year renewable term applies to marks filed with the INPI and with the EUIPO.

Two watch-outs for portfolio managers. Renewal deadlines are unforgiving, so reliable docketing matters. And renewal alone is not enough to keep a mark safe: a registered mark that goes unused for five years becomes vulnerable to revocation for the unused goods and services, even if faithfully renewed.

We handle renewal monitoring and filings for US holders of French and EU marks — see trademark renewal.

Not at first — and this is a real difference from US practice. You can file in France or the EU before making any European sales; there are no use declarations or specimens at the filing stage.

After registration, use matters. If the mark is not genuinely used for the goods and services covered within five years of registration, any third party can seek revocation for non-use, and the mark can be canceled for the goods and services that were not used. Partial use preserves the registration for the goods actually used, but strips the rest.

The practical upshot for US companies: file with a specification that matches your realistic European roadmap, not a wish list. See French trademark registration on drafting the specification, and our glossary for the key terms.

The owner is the applicant named in the filing — what the INPI calls the holder (titulaire). Do not confuse the owner with the attorney or representative handling the filing, or with the individual employee who completes the process: when a company is meant to own the mark, the company must be named as applicant, with the individual merely acting on its behalf.

Ownership is a register question in France. The INPI trademark register is what third parties consult, and any change — assignment, merger, change of name or address — must be recorded there to be enforceable against third parties. US groups reorganizing their IP holding structures should keep French and EU recordals current for exactly that reason.

Key terms are defined in the glossary; for help with recordals, contact us.

Buying a French trademark takes two steps: a written assignment agreement, and recordal of that assignment on the INPI trademark register. The recordal is not a formality to skip — until the assignment is recorded, it is not enforceable against third parties, and recordal is also what protects a buyer against the mark being “sold” twice to different purchasers.

For US acquirers, the usual context is an asset deal or portfolio purchase that includes French or EU registrations. The assignment documents and the INPI (or EUIPO) recordals can be prepared and filed entirely by counsel, with no presence in France required. Due diligence should include verifying the chain of title on the register and checking the marks for non-use vulnerability.

Contact us for assignment and recordal work; key concepts are in the glossary.

A domain name alone gives only fragile protection in France. To assert a domain against a later trademark, French decisions require proof that the domain was actually operated as a website before the trademark’s filing date and that it is known across the national territory — a demanding evidentiary burden. An unused domain is essentially unprotectable, protection scales with the intensity of proven use, and the default fallback is unfair-competition law, which is narrower than trademark rights.

Trademark and domain registrations are complements, not alternatives: the trademark blocks confusingly similar signs for your goods and services, while the domain secures the address itself — which a trademark alone will not always do outside your sector. US companies entering Europe should hold both.

Start with a clearance search, then see French trademark registration.

An EU trademark is a single registration, filed with the EUIPO, that covers all member states of the European Union — including France — through one application, one procedure, and one renewal. There are no separate national filings, and you cannot pick individual EU countries: it is a unitary right covering the whole bloc.

Timing is attractive: absent objections or opposition, an EUTM registers in about four months. The application is exposed to a three-month opposition window, during which owners of earlier rights can object.

For most US companies with genuinely European ambitions, the EUTM is the default vehicle — one asset to own, renew, and enforce across 27 countries. The full procedure, costs, and strategy points are in EU trademark registration; fee detail is in trademark fees and costs.

It depends on where the business is going. A French national filing (€190 in official fees for one class) is the economical route when France is genuinely the only European market in play. An EU trademark covers all 27 member states — France included — in one procedure, and is usually the better value once several EU countries matter.

Strategic wrinkles worth weighing with counsel: either a French or an EU mark can serve as the base for an international (Madrid) registration extending protection further afield; and the clearance picture differs — an EU application must survive earlier rights across the entire EU, while a French filing only faces conflicts effective in France. Many companies end up holding both layers.

Compare French trademark registration and EU trademark registration, or ask us for a filing strategy tailored to your roadmap.

The Madrid system lets you extend a trademark to multiple countries through a single application filed with WIPO in Geneva. WIPO acts as a one-stop window: it forwards the application to each designated national office, which examines it under local law, and later renewals are handled in one step at WIPO instead of country by country.

An international registration must be built on a base mark. Working from Europe, that base can be a French or an EU trademark; a US company can equally use its US application or registration as the base and designate the EU and/or France among the target territories. Madrid filings involve real strategic choices — the designation list, and the registration’s dependency on the base mark during an initial period [VERIFY: five-year dependency and “central attack” rules] — so counsel review pays for itself.

See international trademark protection via the Madrid Protocol.

Before the EUIPO, companies domiciled outside the European Economic Area must be represented by a qualified European professional representative for all proceedings beyond the mere filing of the application (Article 120 of the EU Trademark Regulation). Before the French INPI, applicants established outside the EU/EEA are likewise generally required to appoint a representative [VERIFY: INPI representation rules for non-EU applicants].

In practice the question rarely arises in isolation: a US company filing in Europe works through European counsel anyway — for clearance, drafting the specification, handling objections and oppositions — and that counsel acts as representative of record. GOMIS & LACKER acts as representative before both the EUIPO and the INPI for US clients.

See EU trademark registration, or contact us to discuss your filing.

Opposition is the administrative procedure for blocking a conflicting trademark application before it registers — faster and far cheaper than litigating after the fact. In France, an application is published about three weeks after filing, and owners of earlier rights then have two months to oppose before the INPI. For an EU trademark application, the opposition window is three months.

The procedure cuts both ways for a US company. Defensively, your own French or EU application may be opposed — which is why pre-filing clearance matters. Offensively, your registered mark (or even a pending application, though the case is then suspended until it registers) lets you stop lookalike filings at the office stage.

How the INPI procedure unfolds step by step: trademark opposition. To catch conflicting filings within the deadline, see trademark watch.

With a registered French or EU trademark, you can act against an identical sign used for identical goods, and against any identical or similar sign used for identical or similar goods where there is a likelihood of confusion. The end point is an infringement action before the French courts, which can order the infringer to stop — under monetary penalties for continued use — and award damages for the harm suffered.

Most matters do not start in court. A documented cease-and-desist letter from French counsel resolves many cases, and where the infringer has also filed a trademark, opposition or cancellation before the INPI or EUIPO can run in parallel. Timing matters: knowingly tolerating a later registered mark for five years can bar you from acting against it (acquiescence).

See trademark infringement in France, or contact us to assess a specific situation.

You cannot count on the offices to alert you — spotting conflicting filings is the trademark owner’s job. And the windows are short: two months from publication to oppose a French application, three months for an EU application. Miss the deadline and you are left with slower, costlier cancellation or court proceedings.

A trademark watch closes that gap: your marks are monitored against new French, EU, and international filings, and you receive an alert in time to send a warning letter or file an opposition while the office-stage remedy is still open. For US portfolio managers responsible for European marks they rarely look at day to day, it is inexpensive insurance against waking up next to a registered lookalike.

See our trademark watch service and how it feeds into opposition proceedings.