Glossary
French: INPI (Institut national de la propriété industrielle)
The Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI) is the French office in charge of trademarks, designs and patents — France’s counterpart to the USPTO. It is based in Courbevoie, in the Paris area.
French trademark filings are made with the INPI, with the corresponding official fees (see INPI fees). The INPI also handles renewals and recordals: in case of assignment, merger or corporate transformation, changes of ownership must be recorded with the INPI (see trademark owner).
The INPI acts as an administrative authority and issues decisions in opposition proceedings. It also has jurisdiction over post-registration disputes concerning French marks: revocation for deceptiveness, for non-use and for genericide, as well as invalidity actions based on prior rights — functions comparable to the TTAB’s cancellation jurisdiction. Adverse INPI decisions can be appealed to the competent Court of Appeal — most often the Paris Court of Appeal, depending on jurisdictional rules.
A French INPI mark can serve as the basic mark for an international registration filed with WIPO, and as the basis of a priority claim for a later EUIPO filing.
INPI stands for propriété industrielle (industrial property), not intellectual property: the INPI does not handle copyright. In France, copyright arises without any formality — any original work is protected upon creation. (The INPI does handle some adjacent matters, such as software pledges.)
See also: EUIPO, BOPI, French trademark registration.