Part Two: Industrial property

The protection of the design conferred by the provisions of this Book shall be acquired by registration. It shall be granted to the creator or his successor in title. The author of the application for registration shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be regarded as the beneficiary of such protection.

If a design has been registered in fraud of the rights of a third party or in breach of a legal or contractual obligation, the person who believes he or she has a right to the design may claim ownership in court. An action to claim ownership shall be barred after five years from the publication of the registration of the design or, in the case of bad faith, at…

Subject to the provisions of international conventions to which France is a party, a foreigner who is neither established nor domiciled in the territory of a Member State of the European Community or of a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area shall benefit from the provisions of this Book provided that his country grants reciprocal protection to French designs.