French Intellectual Property Code

A European patent application may only be converted into a French patent application in the case provided for in Article 135-1 (a) of the Munich Convention. In this case and on pain of rejection of his French patent application, the applicant must satisfy the conditions which are laid down by regulation. If a search report has been drawn up before conversion of the application, this report takes the place of…

The text of the European patent application or the European patent drafted in the language of proceedings before the European Patent Office created by the Munich Convention shall be the authentic text. In the event of litigation relating to a European patent the text of which is not drafted in French, the patent proprietor shall provide, at his own expense, at the request of the alleged infringer or at the…

Within three months of the publication of European patent applications and where the language of the proceedings is not French, the Institut national de la propriété industrielle shall ensure the translation and publication in French of the abstracts provided for in Article 78, paragraph 1-e, of the Munich Convention.

The rights defined in articles L. 613-3 to L. 613-7, L. 615-4 and L. 615-5 of this Code may be exercised from the date on which a European patent application is published in accordance with the provisions of Article 93 of the Munich Convention. If the publication has been made in a language other than French, the rights referred to in the preceding paragraph may only be exercised from the…

Except in cases of nullity actions and by derogation from the first paragraph of Article L. 614-7, where a French-language translation has been produced under the conditions set out in the second paragraph of the same Article L. 614-7 or in the second paragraph of Article L. 614-9, such translation shall be considered authentic if the European patent application or the European patent confers in the text of the translation…

Entry in the European Patent Register of acts transferring or amending the rights attached to a European patent application or a European patent renders such acts enforceable against third parties.

As far as France is concerned, the European patent shall be declared invalid by a court decision on any of the grounds referred to in Article 138(1) of the Munich Convention. If the grounds for invalidity affect the patent only in part, invalidity shall be declared in the form of a corresponding limitation of the claims. In an action for invalidity of the European patent, its proprietor is entitled to…

I.-Insofar as a French patent covers an invention for which a European patent has been granted to the same inventor or to his successor in title with the same filing or priority date, and where the European patent has been the subject of a derogation from the exclusive jurisdiction of the unified patent jurisdiction, pursuant to paragraph 3 of Article 83 of the Agreement relating to a unified patent jurisdiction,…

I.-A French patent application or a French patent and a European patent application or a European patent which has not been the subject of a waiver of the exclusive jurisdiction of the unified patent jurisdiction, pursuant to paragraph 3 of Article 83 of the Agreement relating to a unified patent jurisdiction, having the same filing date or the same priority date, covering the same invention and belonging to the same…

The court hearing an action for infringement of a French patent which covers the same invention as a European patent applied for by the same inventor or granted to him or his successor in title with the same priority date and which is the subject of a derogation from the exclusive jurisdiction of the unified patent jurisdiction, pursuant to paragraph 3 of Article 83 of the Agreement on a Unified…