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A mark is a signature, a sign which distinguishes you. The brand represents a major importance. It is used to identify the products or services of a person or a company and to differentiate them. A mark ensures the consumer a quality assurance of the products.
A registered trademark can be:
- a verbal signal (name, sentence, slogan…),
- a figurative sign (logo, image…),
- a symbol,
- a colour,
- an odour
- a sound sign…
The deposit of a mark must be such as it does not carry not reached to former rights, i.e. there is not a risk of confusion in the spirit of the public.
The sign must be distinctive, it be-with saying to make it possible to the customer to distinguish the product from that of its competitors.
The mark should be likely to mislead the public, neither to suggest qualities which the product has, neither comprising contrary signs with the moralities or the law and order, nor to suppose that it is about an official sign (flag…).
How to deposit a mark?
The property of a mark is acquired by a recording. Any natural person or morals can deposit, on her behalf, a mark. The deposit is done with the INPI or the clerk's office of the bankruptcy court. It includes/understands a request for recording, the model of the mark, the list of the products and services to which it applies, identity of the depositor and expenses of a minimum of 225 euros.
Nevertheless, according to the principle known as “of speciality”, the recording of the mark confers on its holder a property right only for the products and services which will have been indicated at the time of the deposit (Article L 711-2 AL 1 of the Code of the intellectual property). The holder will have a right of exploitation exclusive of the mark of these products and/or services for one period 10 years starting from the date of filing of the request, and renewable indefinitely.
Caution: the non-utilization of a registered trademark during more than 5 years can involve the forfeiture of this right if a third initiates the corresponding procedure.
The protection of the marks prevents the unfair competitors from using identical or similar distinctive signs to market products or services different or from lower quality.
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