French Intellectual Property Code

The commission meets at the Institut national de la propriété industrielle or, by decision of the chairman, at one of its provincial centres when circumstances so require.

The members of the commission shall be allocated a fixed allowance for the cases they have to deal with. The allowance shall include the reimbursement of miscellaneous secretarial expenses, correspondence or travel outside their residence, required for the performance of their duties. The rate and conditions of allocation of the fixed allowance shall be set by joint order of the ministers responsible for finance and industrial property.

Expenses incurred by members of the Commission in travelling away from their place of residence in the course of their duties shall be reimbursed in accordance with the conditions applicable to officials in Group I. .

The matter is referred to the commission by a request lodged with the secretariat either by the applicant or by a proxy with proof of authority. The request may also be sent by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

The application shall be signed by the applicant or his representative. It shall state: 1° The surname, first names, profession and address of the applicant and of the other parties; 2° The subject of the dispute; 3° The applicant’s pleas in law and submissions; 4° Any information in his possession that may be useful in resolving the dispute. Attached thereto is a copy of the statement and communications made pursuant…

If the application does not comply with the provisions of the preceding article, the secretariat shall invite the applicant to complete it within a period of one month. The option shall be open, before the expiry of this period, to submit the compliance of the application to the assessment of the Chairman. The Chairman, if he confirms the secretariat’s invitation, will set a new deadline for the interested party to…

The other party shall be notified of the referral to the commission by the secretariat. At the same time, it shall be invited to submit, within the time limit set by the chairman, its written observations on the merits of the request. The Minister of Defence shall be entitled to take cognisance, at the commission secretariat, of all disputes submitted to the commission.

Within the time limit set by the President, the National Institute of Industrial Property shall communicate to the latter those items in its possession which may be disclosed without prejudice to the rights of third parties or to the interests of national defence. A copy of this communication shall immediately be sent to the parties by the Secretariat.

As soon as the assessors have been appointed, the secretariat shall notify the parties of the composition of the commission and convene them to a preliminary meeting. Each party may request a change in the assessors for a serious and legitimate reason assessed by the chairman. This request shall be made within fifteen days of the notification or as soon as the preliminary meeting opens, if it takes place before…

Proceedings before the commission are adversarial.