French Trademark Registration (INPI)

First-to-file: the key difference from US practice

Under both French and EU trademark law, rights in a mark are acquired by filing — not by use. This is the mirror image of the US system, where common-law rights flow from use in commerce and a USPTO application can be grounded on use or intent to use.

Three practical consequences for a US company:

• There is no use or intent-to-use requirement at filing. INPI (the Institut national de la propriété industrielle, France’s counterpart to the USPTO) does not ask for specimens, dates of first use, or a sworn declaration. You can — and should — file before launch in France.
• There are no maintenance filings comparable to Section 8 or Section 71 declarations. A French registration is valid for 10 years from its filing date and can be renewed indefinitely, without proof of use at renewal. (A registration can, however, be attacked for non-use by third parties once the statutory grace period has run — filing is not a substitute for a coherent use strategy.)
• Whoever files first wins the register. If a distributor, a former partner, or a squatter files your brand in France before you do, you start the relationship on the defensive.

Why a French national trademark matters — even if you own an EUTM

Many US companies default to an EU trademark and stop there. That is often the right core move, but the French national mark is an underrated instrument, and we regularly advise US clients to hold one in addition to — or ahead of — an EUTM:

• It is inexpensive. Official INPI fees start at €190 for one class, plus €40 per additional class, against €850 for the first class of an EUTM.
• It is independent of the EU-wide all-or-nothing risk. An EUTM can be blocked or cancelled for the entire European Union because of a prior right existing in a single member state. A French registration stands or falls on French grounds only.
• It is a solid basis for a later international (Madrid) filing. A trademark filed first in France can be extended abroad while claiming the priority of the French filing, provided the 6-month priority deadline is respected — the same Paris Convention mechanism US practitioners know from Section 44.
• It supports a seniority claim. A French registration can later be “docked” into an EUTM through a seniority claim before the EUIPO, preserving the earlier French date within the EU title.
• France is frequently the commercial priority. For fashion, cosmetics, food and wine, luxury and tech brands, France is often the first EU market entered — and the venue where enforcement will actually happen, through infringement litigation before the French courts.

What a French trademark is — and what it gives you

A trademark is a sign (or a sound) filed with a trademark office — INPI for France, EUIPO for the EU, WIPO for international extensions — used to indicate the origin of goods and services. It is defined by two things: the sign, and the precise list of goods and services it covers. Third parties must be able to know immediately and easily what rights a registration confers; a mark that fails this test is not valid.

Once registered, the mark is a property right conferring a monopoly on the use of the sign in the course of trade for the goods and services covered. Concretely, that monopoly lets you:

• prohibit third parties from using the registered mark, or a confusingly similar sign, for identical or similar goods and services;
• oppose later applications that are identical or similar — see opposition proceedings before INPI;
• bring infringement actions before the French courts, and gather evidence through the saisie-contrefaçon, a court-ordered infringement seizure with no true US equivalent (it is considerably more muscular than ordinary discovery tools available to a plaintiff pre-suit in France).

Designing the application: the decisions that matter

The filing formality itself is simple: identify the owner, the sign, the goods and services, and pay the official fee. The value an experienced practitioner adds lies upstream. Each of these choices has durable consequences for the validity and practical effectiveness of the mark:

Choosing the sign

The name is first a marketing and creative decision — but it must be made within the legal criteria for registrability. A sign that is descriptive or otherwise non-distinctive will be refused by INPI. Practical criteria matter too: availability of the matching domain name and social-media handles, and whether the term is so common that the brand can never rank in search results. See choosing a trademark for how we approach registrability and the absolute grounds of refusal.

Choosing the owner

The mark may be filed in the name of one or several individuals or legal entities. For a US group, deciding whether the applicant should be the US parent, a European subsidiary, or an IP holding company is a decision to make before filing, not after.

Choosing the type of mark

French practice accepts word marks, logo (figurative) marks, color marks, motion marks, three-dimensional marks and sound marks. The right vehicle depends on the sign and on how it will be used.

Drafting the goods and services

There are 45 classes under the Nice Classification (classes 1–34 for goods, 35–45 for services) — the same classification the USPTO uses. The specification should reflect actual current use plus medium- and long-term expansion. Two opposite mistakes are common: filing too narrowly (the registration does not cover what the business actually does, and is legally ineffective for its real purpose), and filing indiscriminately wide (cost without benefit). A 45-class French filing would cost €1,950 in official fees alone; blanket filings are rarely the best strategy. A clearance search before filing is the standard way to reduce prior-rights risk.

Choosing the territory

A French filing can cover France alone or France plus French Polynesia (additional official fee of €60). The usual sequence for an expanding business: France first, then the European Union, then an international registration under the Madrid Protocol, claiming the 6-month priority of the first filing.

Procedure and timeline at INPI

Expect roughly 4 to 5 months from filing to registration for a smooth French application:

1. Filing. Entirely electronic. Official fee from €190 (one class).
2. Publication. INPI publishes the application about 5 to 6 weeks after filing.
3. Opposition window. Third parties have 2 months from publication to oppose. INPI examines absolute grounds (distinctiveness, lawfulness) of its own motion, but does not refuse applications on the basis of prior rights — earlier rights are asserted by their owners through opposition — a procedure with its own briefing calendar, which we handle for applicants and opponents alike.
4. Examination / irregularity notices. INPI may issue an irregularity notice — for instance for lack of distinctive character — to which a reasoned response can be filed. Note a classification trap: official fees are never refunded, and if goods or services were placed in the wrong class, INPI will reclassify them and require an additional €40 fee per extra class; unpaid, those goods and services are simply deleted from the application.
5. Registration certificate. Once the mark registers, check the certificate carefully: the reproduction of the sign, the filing date, the applicant’s name and address. This is especially important where the French mark results from the conversion of an EU trademark — verify the priority date above all.

For comparison, the EUIPO route is faster overall despite a longer (3-month) opposition period.

Filing without counsel: the three recurring failure modes

French law does not require a lawyer to file. Based on the files that later land on our desk, three problems dominate self-filed applications:

1. A non-distinctive sign. When INPI refuses a mark for lack of distinctive character, it is ruling that the applicant cannot monopolize the term — the business has invested in a name it cannot protect and cannot stop competitors from using.
2. An unnoticed prior right. A sign already used or registered by a third party exposes the applicant to demands to cease use and to damages. A clearance search does not eliminate the risk, but maps it before money is committed.
3. A specification that misses the actual business. We have seen registrations covering goods and services the owner never provides. The owner feels protected; the registration is, in practice, legally useless for the activity it was meant to protect.

Cost

Official INPI fees: from €190 (one class), €40 per additional class, €60 for French Polynesia. Our firm handles a one-class French filing — including advice on the sign’s distinctiveness and lawfulness, drafting of the goods and services, advice on the applicant and on territorial scope, through delivery of the registration certificate — for fees from €500 (billed in EUR or USD; official fees additional). Full detail, including search packages and 10-year renewals, on the fees and costs page.

Ready to secure your brand in France? Contact us to discuss a French filing strategy.