Book VII: Trademarks and other distinctive signs

I. – The opening of the public enquiry into an application for approval of a specification provided for in 2° of article L. 721-3 is the subject of a notice which is published, concomitantly with the publication mentioned in IV of Article R. 721-2, in electronic form on the Institute’s website and in the Bulletin officiel de la propriété industrielle and the Journal officiel de la République française. This notice…

I. – The Institut national de la propriété industrielle shall open the consultation on an application for approval of a specification provided for in 3° of Article L. 721-3 concomitantly with the publication of the notice of the opening of the public enquiry provided for in I of Article R. 721-3. The procedures for this consultation are specified by decision of the Director General of the Institute. The consultation ends…

I. – The National Institute of Industrial Property shall draw up a summary of the public enquiry and consultation, which it shall send to the applicant, together with its conclusions and any recommendations, within two months of the end of the consultation. The applicant has a period of two months from receipt of these documents in which to submit comments. He may, if appropriate, within the same period, notify his…

Decisions to approve or reject the approval of a specification and decisions to approve or reject the amendment of an approved specification shall be notified by the Institute to the applicant within two months of the expiry of the comment periods provided for in the second paragraph of I and the fourth paragraph of II of l’article R. 721-5 or within two months of the expiry of the deferral periods…

Failing an express decision within the time limit mentioned in Article R. 721-6, the application for approval or amendment of the specification is deemed to have been rejected.

Prior to any decision to withdraw approval of the product specification, the Institute will serve formal notice on the defence and management organisation requesting it to comply with its obligations within a period allowing it to organise the inspection operations provided for in Article L. 721-9 or the implementation of corrective measures guaranteeing compliance with the specifications. Decisions to withdraw approval are notified by the institute to the defence and…

A logo dedicated to geographical indications, provided for in Article L. 721-2, is defined by joint order of the minister responsible for industrial property and the minister responsible for craft trades. When an operator who is a member of the defence and management body wishes to indicate that the product complies with the approved specifications of a geographical indication, the logo, together with the name of the geographical indication and…

The accredited bodies carrying out the inspection operations provided for in Article L. 721-9 at the request of the defence and management organisation or an operator, are third-party bodies, independent of the parties involved. Their staff must not engage in any activity that may, in the performance of their conformity assessment mission, undermine their independence of judgement, impartiality and integrity. Supervision of compliance with an approved specification may only be…

I. – Accredited inspection bodies send the inspection report to the inspected operator and to the defence and management organisation within one month of the completion of the inspection. On the basis of the report sent by the accredited inspection body, or any other element brought to its knowledge that establishes that the operator is not complying with the specifications, the defence and management organisation invites the operator to bring…

Any notification is deemed to be in order if it is made: 1° Either to the organisation for the defence and management of the geographical indication mentioned in article L. 721-4; 2° Or to the authorised representative of the legal person mentioned in 1°. If the legal person to whom the notification is addressed is not domiciled in a Member State of the European Union or in a State party…