Portfolio Management
An unrecorded assignment is invisible to the French and EU registers — and unenforceable against third parties. Here is how assignments, mergers, name and address changes are recorded before INPI and the EUIPO, and why the paperwork is lighter than US practice suggests.
The French National Trademark Register kept by INPI is the authoritative record for French marks; the EUIPO register plays the same role for EU trademarks. The governing rule is blunt: changes that are not recorded are not enforceable against third parties (opposables aux tiers). An assignment is perfectly valid between assignor and assignee from signature — but until it is recorded, the outside world is entitled to rely on the register.
The practical consequences for a new owner are immediate:
The chain of title — the succession of assignments, transfers, mergers and other ownership changes — must be recorded step by step at INPI, the EUIPO or WIPO depending on the type of mark. Left unrecorded for years, chains become genuinely hard to reconstruct: signatories disappear, and a mark standing in the name of a liquidated and dissolved company can no longer be assigned at all. Our advice to US portfolio managers: record European changes when they happen, not when a renewal or a lawsuit forces the issue.
An assignment (cession) transfers ownership from the assignor (cédant) to the assignee (cessionnaire). The agreement can cover one or several marks, and can be partial — limited to some of the goods and services covered.
Points that belong in a well-drafted French/EU assignment, beyond the transfer itself:
In complex situations, a bespoke agreement drafted under French law is the best guarantee that the assignment holds up; a US-style asset purchase agreement is often not what the French or EU office wants to see, and confidential deal terms need not be filed (see documents below). Definitions of the key concepts are in our glossary.
If a renewal deadline, opposition or litigation is looming, the expedited track is cheap insurance.
INPI requires the assignment agreement signed by both parties — assignor and assignee. Electronic signatures are accepted; failing that, a scanned copy of the signed agreement suffices. No notarization, no legalization, no original wet-ink documents — considerably lighter than what US counsel often prepare for.
A further practical simplification: as attorneys (avocats), we can act before INPI and the EUIPO without a power of attorney signed by the client. Instructions by email are enough to get a recordal moving.
Recording a change of corporate name or of address is free at both INPI and the EUIPO. For French companies, no supporting document is needed — INPI checks the change itself against the French companies register. For foreign companies (including US assignees and owners), supporting documents translated into French are required; a simple translation is fine, no sworn translator needed.
Recording an assignment at the EUIPO is free of charge — no fee at all, in contrast with both INPI and USPTO practice. Name and address changes are likewise free. The same signed-agreement principle applies: the office needs evidence of the transfer signed by both parties, and scanned copies are accepted.
For international registrations, ownership changes are recorded centrally at WIPO and flow to the designated territories — see Madrid Protocol portfolios for how we coordinate that layer with national recordals.
Not every register error is the owner’s. Where an error is attributable to INPI, you can request publication of an erratum to correct it — and the erratum is free of charge when the error is INPI’s. Request it as soon as the error is spotted, so the correction is made before it can contaminate a later procedure (an opposition, a renewal, an enforcement action where the register entry is scrutinized).
This is a standard part of our register-hygiene work when onboarding a portfolio: compare each register entry against the true corporate data, then fix discrepancies through the right channel — recordal where the owner changed, erratum where the office erred.
Typical instructions we take from US firms and in-house counsel:
Our fees for recordal work start from €300 per instruction [VERIFY: firm recordal fee — not stated in the French source pages; confirm against the current rate card], with official fees rebilled at cost. Fees are billed in EUR or USD. For overall budgeting, see trademark fees and costs.
Closing a deal or tidying a European chain of title? Contact us with the marks concerned and we will quote the recordal program within one business day.
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Renewing French and EU trademarks: 10-year terms, renewal windows, 6-month grace periods, official fees — and no use declarations, unlike the USPTO.
Why watch French and EU registers: the 2-month INPI opposition window is non-extendable. What we monitor, how conflicts are flagged, and what happens next.