Section 4: Professional obligations

Industrial property attorneys practise their profession with dignity, conscience, independence and probity, and in compliance with the laws and regulations governing their company.

The industrial property attorney shall refrain from any canvassing and advertising not authorised under the conditions provided for in article R. 423-2. He draws up an indicative scale of the amount of his fees, distinct from reimbursements of expenses and royalties. Details of all such charges shall be communicated to any person who so requests.

The industrial property attorney: 1° Refrains in the same case from advising, assisting or representing clients with opposing interests; he also refrains from accepting a new case if the secrecy of information entrusted by a former client is likely to be violated; 2° Observes professional secrecy: this secrecy extends in particular to consultations he gives to his client, to professional correspondence exchanged as well as to any documents prepared on…

The request for exemption referred to in 3° of Article L. 422-12 shall be sent to the Minister responsible for industrial property or, by delegation, to the Director of the National Institute of Industrial Property by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or delivered against receipt. It shall state the purpose of the waiver, where appropriate the desired duration and the reasons for which it is requested. It shall be…

The continuing professional training provided for by Article L. 422-10-1 is a professional obligation which ensures that each industrial property attorney registered on the list provided for in Article L. 422-1 updates and improves the knowledge required to practise his profession. The duration of continuing education is twenty hours over the course of a calendar year or forty hours over the course of two consecutive years. The continuing training obligation…