Trademark owner

The titulaire is the owner (proprietor) of a trademark. The owner can be a natural person or a legal entity, and a single mark can have one or several owners — co-ownership is possible, as in US practice.

Ownership changes and recordal

The owner of a mark can change over time. Under French law, a change of ownership must be recorded with the INPI to be enforceable against third parties (opposable aux tiers) — the same principle as recording assignments with the USPTO, and just as easy to overlook in M&A follow-up. To change the owner of a French mark, the assignment agreement is recorded so that the INPI updates its database and publishes the change of proprietor in the BOPI, the official bulletin.

Owner of an application or of a registration

One can be the owner of a trademark application (dépôt de marque) or of a trademark registration (enregistrement de marque) — ownership exists from filing, before registration issues. The applicant (déposant) becomes the owner of the mark; note that French records historically distinguish the original applicant from the current owner, while the EUIPO database uses only “owner.”

Portfolio housekeeping — verifying that recorded owners match current corporate reality before renewals, oppositions or litigation — is a recurring task for foreign owners of French marks; see trademark renewal and contact us for recordal assistance.

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