What does a French trademark cover?
France, for the goods and services you list, for ten years from filing. A trademark is a sign that distinguishes your goods or services from those of others, represented in the national register precisely enough for anyone to tell what is protected (article L711-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code, Code de la propriété intellectuelle, in force and checked October 2026). Ownership comes from registration at the INPI, the French industrial property office, for ten years from filing, renewable indefinitely (article L712-1).
A right over France, for the goods you list
Registration gives you a property right in the mark for the goods or services you designated, without prejudice to rights acquired by others before your filing or priority date (article L713-1). It stops at the French border: an EU trade mark, filed at the EUIPO, covers every member state, as the guide to EU trademark registration explains.
The name must first be clear of earlier rights with effect in France: the guide to doing business in France says why, the guide to EU and French trademark searches shows how. This guide starts once the search is done.
Who may file, and the representative rule
Any natural or legal person may file, including a company being formed, through its founder (INPI, checked October 2026). The filing is made by the applicant or by a representative established in the EU or the EEA, a conseil en propriété industrielle, the French industrial property attorney, or, under article L422-4, an avocat (article R712-2); an applicant with no domicile or seat there must appoint one within the time the INPI sets.
A foreign applicant also shows a filing at home and reciprocity, subject to international conventions (articles L712-11 and R712-3): article 2 of the Paris Convention gives its nationals the same treatment as French applicants.
How do you file at the INPI, and what does it cost?
Online only, one application per mark, the fee paid at filing: 190 euros for one class, 40 euros for each further class.
What gives you a filing date
The INPI states that filing is made exclusively online, on its e-procédures portal (checked October 2026). The filing date is the date the INPI receives the application (article R712-1), if it contains the four elements of article L712-2: a representation of the mark, the list of goods or services, the applicant’s identity and proof of payment; otherwise it moves to the day the missing items arrive (article R712-7). One mark per filing, each with a national number (articles R712-3 and R712-6).
Classes, wording and priority
Goods and services are listed by class of the Nice Classification, administered by WIPO: 45 classes, according to the INPI, which asks for clear and precise wording and warns that nothing can be added after filing (checked October 2026); a regularisation never extends the scope (article R712-11).
A filing of the same mark abroad less than six months ago gives you its date: the priority right of article 4 of the Paris Convention extends to any mark previously filed abroad (article L712-12), for six months from the first filing (article 4 C(1)), with an official copy sent to the INPI within three months (article R712-4).
| What you pay for | Official fee |
|---|---|
| Filing, one class of goods or services | 190 euros |
| Each class beyond the first | 40 euros |
| Opposition, one earlier right (then 150 euros per further right) | 400 euros |
| Renewal, one class (then 40 euros per further class) | 290 euros |
| Late renewal, or late payment of the renewal fee | 50 % of the fee due, in addition |
| Recording of an act in the national register, per mark | 27 euros, 270 euros at most |
| Transmission of an international application to WIPO | 62 euros |
With the amounts of the INPI fees page, two classes cost 230 euros and three 270 euros, paid at filing (checked October 2026). None of this is a lawyer’s fee.
What happens between filing and registration?
The INPI publishes the application within six weeks, checks it on its own for absolute grounds, waits two months for observations and oppositions, then registers it: five months at least, according to the INPI (checked October 2026).
The diagram sets the INPI’s track, receipt, publication, two-month window and registration, beside yours: filing, answers to notices and oppositions, then use within five years and renewal every ten years.
Publication within six weeks, then examination
Every admissible filing is published in the Bulletin officiel de la propriété industrielle, the BOPI, within six weeks of its receipt, with a mention that anyone may file observations within two months and that the persons listed in article L712-4-1 may oppose in the same period (article R712-8).
In parallel, the INPI checks the application and the mark against article L711-2 (article R712-10). An irregularity is notified with reasons and a period to regularise or contest, no later than four months after receipt for the substance of the mark; a proposal of regularisation is deemed accepted if you do not contest it in time (article R712-11).
Absolute grounds: what the INPI refuses on its own
The INPI rejects a sign that cannot be a mark, or a mark caught by article L711-2: no distinctive character, a mark made only of indications describing the goods, a mark that has become usual, a shape imposed by the nature of the product, a mark contrary to public order or deceptive, or a filing made in bad faith (article L712-7). Distinctive character acquired through use before filing saves the mark if you prove it; a ground that hits only part of the list brings a partial rejection. Earlier rights are not among these grounds: raising them is the opponent’s job.
Registration and the certificate
Unless rejected or withdrawn, the mark is registered, a certificate is sent to you and the registration is published in the BOPI, whose date is the registration date that starts the five-year use period (article R712-23). The Code requires a decision within six months, interrupted by an opposition or an irregularity notice (article R712-23-1).
Who can oppose your French trademark, and how does it run?
The owners of earlier rights with effect in France, within two months of publication, before the INPI, in a written procedure closed by a decision of its Director General.
Two months, seven kinds of earlier rights
Article L712-4 opens the opposition to an earlier mark; a mark with a reputation; a company name, where there is a likelihood of confusion; a trade name, shop sign or domain name of more than local reach, on the same condition; a registered geographical indication; the name, image or reputation of a local authority; and the name of a public entity. The owner of a mark protected in a Paris Convention country may also oppose its agent’s unauthorised filing.
Who may act is set by article L712-4-1: the owner of the earlier mark, its exclusive licensee unless the contract says otherwise, the company, the holder of the domain name, the person trading under the name or sign. Anyone else can only file observations on the absolute grounds in the same two months (article L712-3), which open no proceedings. The fee is 400 euros for one earlier right and 150 euros for each further right (article R712-14; INPI, checked October 2026).
The exchange of arguments, proof of use and the decision
The procedure is adversarial (article L712-5). You have two months from notification of the opposition to answer, then each side has one month per reply, up to five exchanges, with oral observations on request (article R712-16-1). On a joint request, it is suspended for four months, renewable twice, which leaves room for a coexistence agreement (article R712-17).
If the earlier mark has been registered for more than five years, you can require proof of its genuine use for the goods relied on; without proof or a proper reason, the opposition fails, and the earlier mark counts only for the goods actually used (article L712-5-1). The Director General decides after the instruction phase; without a decision within four months of its close, the opposition is deemed rejected (article L712-5; article R712-16-2). An upheld opposition means rejection, partial where only some goods are hit (article L712-7).
What do you owe the mark after registration?
Three things: genuine use within five years, renewal every ten years, and a register kept up to date.
Use it within five years
An owner who, without proper reason, has made no genuine use of the mark for the registered goods or services during an uninterrupted five years incurs revocation, counted at the earliest from the registration date (article L714-5). Use with your consent, in a form that keeps the distinctive character, or on goods for export all count. A revocation request costs 600 euros at the INPI (fees from 2 July 2026, checked October 2026).
Renew every ten years, in the year before expiry
Renewal changes neither the sign nor the list, and the new ten-year period runs from the end of the previous one; the INPI informs you of the expiry, without liability if it does not (article L712-9). The declaration is filed in the year before expiry, with the fee, 290 euros for one class and 40 euros per further class, or in the six months after expiry with a 50 % surcharge (article R712-24; INPI fees, checked October 2026). A new sign or a longer list means a new filing.
Record transfers and licences
The mark can be transferred in whole or in part, independently of the business, and licensed, exclusively or not, for all or part of the territory and goods; an assignment must be in writing, on pain of nullity (article L714-1). To bind third parties, the act is recorded in the Registre national des marques (article L714-7) with a copy (article R714-4), for 27 euros per mark (INPI, checked October 2026).
How do you extend a French trademark abroad through the Madrid system?
Through the INPI, which transmits to WIPO an international application based on your French mark; the fees are paid in Swiss francs, and the international registration depends on the French mark for five years.
One application, one set of fees
The holder of an application or registration at the INPI may obtain an international registration if it is a French national, domiciled in France or has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment there (article 2 of the Madrid Protocol). The application goes through the INPI’s visa (article R717-8), online, for 62 euros (INPI, checked October 2026).
WIPO charges a basic fee of 653 Swiss francs, 903 for a mark in colour, a complementary fee of 100 Swiss francs per designated member, replaced by an individual fee for some, and a supplementary fee of 100 Swiss francs per class beyond three (WIPO, Madrid System fees, checked October 2026).
Ten years, and five years of dependence
The international registration lasts ten years, renewable at WIPO on one date for every country (article 6(1) of the Protocol). For five years it depends on the French mark: if that mark is withdrawn, lapses or is rejected, revoked or invalidated, the international protection falls with it for the goods concerned, and the holder has three months to file national applications that keep the date (articles 6(2), 6(3) and 9quinquies; INPI, checked October 2026).
A foreign company not established in France files through its home office and can designate France; the INPI then examines the sign, and the two-month opposition period runs from WIPO’s Gazette (articles R717-4 and R717-5). The EU trade mark route is compared in the guide to EU trademark registration.
When does a lawyer make the difference?
At four points: the list of goods, the owner and the route, the opposition, and the years after.
Four decisions that set what the mark is worth
- The list of goods and services. Wide enough for the next years, since nothing can be added after filing, close enough to real use to survive revocation.
- The owner, the representative and the route. Company or founder, a representative in the EEA, France alone, the Union or Madrid, priority claimed in time.
- Observations and oppositions. An answer on distinctiveness in time, a request for proof of use, a narrower list or a coexistence agreement.
- The years after. Use that counts, the renewal year, transfers and licences recorded, a watch on the BOPI.
Concord prepares and files the French trademark at the INPI, after the clearance search, represents you before the Institute, answers the examiner’s notices, and files or answers an opposition. If the name is chosen, tell us what you sell and where. The other questions a foreign business meets with French clients are in the guide to doing business in France.