Chapter IV: Application of international conventions and European Union law

A European patent application may be filed with the National Institute of Industrial Property either at its headquarters or, where necessary, at its regional centres, in accordance with procedures to be specified by regulation. The application must be filed with the National Institute of Industrial Property, where the applicant has his domicile or registered office in France and does not claim the priority of an earlier filing in France.

The Minister responsible for defence is authorised to take cognisance at the Institut national de la propriété industrielle, on a confidential basis, of European patent applications filed at that institute.

Inventions which are the subject of European patent applications, filed with the National Institute of Industrial Property, may not be disclosed and freely exploited until authorisation has been granted to do so. During this period, applications may not be made public; no true copies may be issued unless authorised. The authorisations provided for in the first and second paragraphs of this article are granted by the Minister responsible for industrial…

Before the end of either of the periods mentioned in the last paragraph of article L. 614-4, the prohibitions provided for in the said article may be extended, at the request of the Minister for Defence, for a renewable period of one year. In this case, the request is not forwarded to the European Patent Office. Extended prohibitions may be lifted at any time. In the event of the prohibitions…

A European patent application may only be converted into a French patent application in the case provided for in Article 135-1 (a) of the Munich Convention. In this case and on pain of rejection of his French patent application, the applicant must satisfy the conditions which are laid down by regulation. If a search report has been drawn up before conversion of the application, this report takes the place of…

The text of the European patent application or the European patent drafted in the language of proceedings before the European Patent Office created by the Munich Convention shall be the authentic text. In the event of litigation relating to a European patent the text of which is not drafted in French, the patent proprietor shall provide, at his own expense, at the request of the alleged infringer or at the…

Within three months of the publication of European patent applications and where the language of the proceedings is not French, the Institut national de la propriété industrielle shall ensure the translation and publication in French of the abstracts provided for in Article 78, paragraph 1-e, of the Munich Convention.

The rights defined in articles L. 613-3 to L. 613-7, L. 615-4 and L. 615-5 of this Code may be exercised from the date on which a European patent application is published in accordance with the provisions of Article 93 of the Munich Convention. If the publication has been made in a language other than French, the rights referred to in the preceding paragraph may only be exercised from the…

Except in cases of nullity actions and by derogation from the first paragraph of Article L. 614-7, where a French-language translation has been produced under the conditions set out in the second paragraph of the same Article L. 614-7 or in the second paragraph of Article L. 614-9, such translation shall be considered authentic if the European patent application or the European patent confers in the text of the translation…