French Intellectual Property Code

The registration takes effect, as from the date of filing of the application, for a period of five years, which may be extended by periods of five years up to a maximum of twenty-five years. Designs filed before 1 October 2001 remain protected, without possible extension, for a period of twenty-five years from their filing date. Designs whose protection has been extended, before 1 October 2001, for a further period…

Without prejudice to the rights resulting from the application of other legislative provisions, in particular Books I and III of this Code, the registration of a design confers on its proprietor a right of ownership which he may assign or grant.

Any act modifying or transmitting the rights attached to a registered design may only be relied on as against third parties if it has been entered in the National Designs Register. However, before it has been entered, an act may be relied on as against third parties who acquired rights after the date of that act but who were aware of it when those rights were acquired. A licensee who…

In the absence of the consent of the owner of the design, the manufacture, offering, placing on the market, import, export, transhipment, use, or possession for these purposes, of a product incorporating the design shall be prohibited. .

The protection conferred by the registration of a design extends to any design which does not produce a different overall visual impression on the informed observer.

The rights conferred by the registration of a design shall not be exercised in respect of: 1° Acts performed privately and for non-commercial purposes; 2° Acts performed for experimental purposes; 3° Acts of reproduction for illustration or teaching purposes, if these acts mention the registration and the name of the holder of the rights, comply with fair trade practices and do not prejudice the normal exploitation of the design; 4°…