French Intellectual Property Code

The benefit of the filing date of the patent application is acquired on the date of submission of at least one copy of the documents listed in Article L. 612-2, drawn up in the French language, subject to the provisions of Article R. 612-21. Where one of the documents mentioned in the previous paragraph is missing, the applicant shall be invited to complete the patent application within a period of…

1. If it is found that parts of the description, or drawings referred to in the description or claims, do not appear to be included in the application, the applicant shall be invited to produce the missing parts within two months. 2. If the missing parts of the description or the missing drawings are submitted within the period of two months after the filing date or, where an invitation is…

The application for grant shall be signed by the applicant or his representative. It shall contain: 1° The nature of the industrial property title applied for; 2° The title of the invention showing clearly and concisely the technical designation of the invention and containing no fancy names; 3° The designation of the inventor : however, if the applicant is not the inventor or the sole inventor, the designation shall be…

The application for grant shall be supplemented, where applicable, by indications relating to: 1° The reduction in the rate of royalties granted to the applicant or requested by him; 2° Earlier registrations whose elements may have been taken over; 3° Priorities claimed; 4° The presentation of the invention at an official or officially recognised exhibition. In the event of non-compliance with the provisions of 3° of Article R. 612-10, the…

The description includes: 1° An indication of the technical field to which the invention relates; 2° An indication of the prior art, known to the applicant, which may be considered useful for understanding the invention and for drawing up the search report; the documents used to reflect the prior art are cited as far as possible; 3° A description of the invention, as characterised in the claims, enabling the technical…

The description shall be presented under the conditions and in the order provided for in Article R. 612-12 unless the nature of the invention allows for a different, more intelligible and concise presentation. The following in particular may also appear as appendices at the end of the description: 1° Short extracts from computer programs presented in the form of listings written in common programming languages, where they are necessary for…

In the case provided for in Article L. 612-5, second paragraph, the culture shall be deposited no later than the filing date of the patent application and the description shall specify: 1° The information available to the applicant on the characteristics of the micro-organism; 2° The authorised body with which the culture was deposited and the deposit number. The indications provided for in 2° of the preceding paragraph may be…

If the culture ceases to be accessible either because it is no longer viable or because the authorised body is no longer able to supply samples, no account shall be taken of this interruption, provided that: 1° A new deposit of the micro-organism is made within a period of three months from the date on which the interruption was notified to the applicant or patent proprietor either by the authorised…

Claims define the subject matter of the protection applied for by indicating the technical characteristics of the invention. A claim may not, unless absolutely necessary, be based, in order to express the technical characteristics of the invention, on mere references to the description or drawings.

Every claim comprises: 1° A preamble mentioning the designation of the subject matter of the invention and the technical features which are necessary for the definition of the claimed elements but which, combined together, form part of the state of the art; 2° A characterising part, preceded by an expression of the type “characterised by”, setting out the technical features which, in conjunction with the features provided for in 1°,…