EU & French trademarks
Filing and prosecuting EU/French trademarks for your clients.
Most referral work begins with trademarks. We file and prosecute French and EU trademarks for your clients, and — because the procedure, the opposition window and the grounds for losing a trademark differ from the US system — we set out below how the process actually runs.
Two routes: the French trademark and the EU trademark
A French national trademark, filed at the INPI, protects the sign in France. An EU trademark (EUTM), filed at the EUIPO, protects it across all 27 member states in a single right. A client may need one, the other or both; applicants domiciled outside the EEA must act through a qualified representative, the role we fill.
How registration proceeds
Both offices follow a similar path. The application is examined on absolute grounds — is the sign distinctive, lawful, not merely descriptive? — then published. A window opens during which earlier-right holders may oppose: three months at the EUIPO. Absent opposition, or once it is resolved, the trademark registers, in practice within a few months for a smooth file.
Neither office refuses a trademark for conflict with an earlier trademark on its own initiative — that is left to opposition — so clearance before filing matters.
Oppositions
Opposition is the principal contest. It is brought by the holder of an earlier trademark or right on relative grounds — typically a likelihood of confusion, or damage to a trademark with a reputation. At the EUIPO a cooling-off period allows settlement, and the applicant may put the opponent to proof of genuine use of any earlier trademark registered for more than five years. We act for opponents and for applicants defending.
Losing a trademark: invalidity and revocation
A registered trademark is not unassailable. It may be declared invalid (nullité) — on absolute grounds, where it should never have registered (descriptive, non-distinctive, filed in bad faith), or on relative grounds, where an earlier right prevails. It may also be revoked (déchéance), most often for non-use where it has not been genuinely used for an uninterrupted five years, or where it has become generic. These are both a risk to manage and a tool we use against blocking trademarks.
Choosing the route
We advise whether to file at the INPI, at the EUIPO, or to designate the EU through the Madrid Protocol, weighing the client’s portfolio, the territories that matter, budget and opposition risk.