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To become owner of a patent, you must carry out a deposit with the INPI (National institute of the Industrial property).
A patent can be deposited in the name of one or several people, physics or morals.
Once the patent deposited, any later modification is prohibited. So the precision in the initial drafting is paramount. It is highly advised to call upon an adviser in industrial property.
You can call upon an agent (nobody charged to represent you). It can be a question of a council in industrial property, a lawyer, a company, a friend, a relative or any person, physics or morals, having its residence, its seat in a Member State of the European Community or a Member State of European Economic space.
An agent is obligatory:
- when the patent is deposited in the name of several people;
- when the applicant neither is established, nor domiciled in France or in a Member State of the European Union).
The date of filing of the request is very important. It is the official starting point of your protection, even if the property rights industrial are definitively acquired only when the patent is delivered.
The cost of a deposit
The cost is relatively important. It includes/understands:
- 35 euros for the deposit of the patent or the certificate of utility;
- 500 euros for the research report (this royalty of research report relates to only the patent fillings);
- 85 euros with the delivery of the patent;
- 40 euros per additional claim;
- renewal fees for the renewal of the requests or the delivered titles: the tariff goes 35 euros the first year to 600 euros the last year. Each annual instalment must be discharged completely at the latest the last day of the month of the date birthday of the deposit. A grace period 6 months for the payment of these annual instalments can be granted. Its starting point is fixed the shortly after the day of the expiry of the yearly rental.
The natural persons and, under certain conditions, SME and associations of the sector of teaching or research can profit from a reduction of the royalties subject to making the request of it. The cost of the deposit is then of 26 euros and the other payments are decreased by 25%.
Proceedings for grant
You must: to fill the form “Requires inscription of the national register of a correction” delivered by the INPI.
To join in three specimens:
- description specifies invention,
- drawings or sample,
- the claims (the statement of the features of the invention) which describes the extent of the required protection,
- summary which summarizes the request.
You can deposit your file in several manners:
- is directly at the INPI or of one of its delegations,
- is with the prefecture of your department (except Paris),
- is by the post office by sending it to the INPI,
- is by electronic deposit.
National institute of the Industrial property: 26 bis, rue de Saint-Pétersbourg 75800 Paris Cedex 8.
Indigo number: 0.820.210 211 (0,09 TTC/min euros).
Internet site: www.inpi.fr
As of reception of the deposit, the INPI will allot a number of national recordings to you. You will have to await the special permit of the INPI to make public and use your invention. That will constitute the starting point of the protection of the patent.
18 months after your deposit, an opinion is mentioned in the Official Bulletin of the INPI announcing the patent application. You will have to pay a tax for the opening of this procedure. You will receive then a “research report” to which you must answer.
After approximately 3 years, the patent will be delivered to you.
The duration of the patent is 20 years as from the date of filing, on the condition of paying the annual instalments. Spent this period, your invention falls into the public domain, i.e. it does not profit any more protection and that any person can exploit it.
Caution: this protection is valid only on the national territory.
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