French Intellectual Property Code

The application may be filed personally by the applicant or by an agent whose domicile, registered office or place of business is in a Member State of the European Union or in a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. The representative appointed for the filing of a design application and any subsequent acts relating to the registration procedure, with the exception of the simple payment of…

Where a single filing relates to several designs, the products in which these designs are intended to be incorporated or to which they are intended to be applied must fall within the same class, within the meaning of the classification established by the Locarno Agreement of 8 October 1968. However, this condition does not apply where the filing relates to ornamentation or if it has been made in the simplified…

Until the start of technical preparations for publication, the applicant may be authorised, by written request addressed to the Director of the National Institute of Industrial Property, to rectify material errors found in the documents filed. The Institute may require justification of the reality of the material error to be corrected and, where appropriate, of the meaning of the correction requested.

The filing in simplified form provided for in Article L. 512-2, paragraph 5, includes the documents and information set out in Article R. 512-3. However, until the waiver of the postponement provided for in Article R. 512-11, graphic or photographic reproductions of designs are not subject to the presentation requirements set out in 2° of Article R. 512-3, and filing is subject to proof of payment of a fee independent…

The claiming, on the occasion of a filing made in France, of a right of priority attached to a previous foreign filing entails the obligation to send to the Institut national de la propriété industrielle, within three months of the filing in France, an official copy of the previous filing and, if applicable, proof of the right to claim priority. If this obligation is not complied with, the claim to…

On receipt of the deposit, the declaration shall state: the date, place and serial number of the deposit or the national number provided for in the following article. A filing receipt is issued to the depositor. When the filing is made at the clerk’s office of the commercial court or of the judicial court in lieu thereof, the filing documents and the amount of the fees shall be transmitted without…

Upon receipt at the Institute, the filing gives rise to the allocation of a national number. Where it has not been possible to mention this number on the filing receipt, it shall be notified to the applicant. Any subsequent correspondence or filing of documents which does not mention the national filing number, which does not bear the signature of the applicant or his representative or which, where applicable, is not…

Any filing that does not include at least one copy of the application for registration containing the mention provided for in a of 1° of Article R. 512-3 and at least one copy of the graphic or photographic reproduction of the design(s) provided for in 2° of Article R. 512-3 and which is not accompanied by proof of payment of the filing fee. The above-mentioned reproduction must be of sufficient…

If the filing does not comply with the requirements of Article R. 512-3 or, in the case of a simplified filing, to the requirements of Article R. 512-4, or where publication of the filing is likely to offend public decency or public order, the applicant shall be notified of this with reasons. The applicant is given a period in which to rectify the filing or contest the Institute’s objections or,…

The application for registration may be withdrawn until the start of the technical preparations required by the publication provided for in the first paragraph of Article R. 512-10. Withdrawal shall be effected by a written declaration addressed or delivered to the Institute, made by the holder or his agent, who, unless he is an industrial property attorney or a lawyer, must provide proof of special authority. If there is more…