The procedure to register your trademark in France
- Baptiste Piljan
- Jan 13
- 8 min read
Updated: Feb 28
The complete step-by-step guide
Registering a trademark is an essential step that needs to be taken right from the start of your commercial or entrepreneurial project. Ideally, this formality should be carried out even before you have communicated about your new activity, product or service, to prevent your competitors from appropriating your trademark.
In effect, only by registering your trademark with the Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI) will you be able to benefit from exclusivity over your trademark in France, and thus prohibit third parties, and in particular your competitors, from using it to designate products or services identical (or similar) to those you offer your clients.
Want to know how to register a trademark in France?
The explanations below detail the step-by-step process for registering a trademark at INPI.
Summary
Prior steps to register a trademark in France
Prior steps to register a trademark in France
First of all, before going through the actual registration formalities at INPI, you need to follow a few preliminary steps to prepare your registration properly.
If you're reading this article, you've probably already completed them. However, don't hesitate to take a look to make sure your deposit project has been properly prepared.
The first step in preparing a trademark application is to choose the “sign” that will constitute the trademark.
1. Choice of sign
A trademark right relates to a “sign”, i.e. an element that will be perceived by consumers as the brand that designates your products or services and distinguishes them from those of your competitors.
This sign can take different forms:
A word mark: this is a mark composed of one or more words, a name, a number or a letter. This is the most common type of trademark.
A figurative trademark: a logo, drawing, image or photograph.
A shape trademark: this is a trademark that consists of a 3-dimensional shape, such as the shape of your product or its packaging.
A color mark: this is a trademark consisting of a shade or combination of colors.
A sound mark: this is a trademark composed of a sound or a series of sounds.
There are other types of trademarks, but these are the most common.
Depending on your brand strategy, and the values and messages you want to convey through your brand, it's a good idea to opt for one type of sign or another.
Once the sign has been chosen, the next step is to identify the goods and services that will be mentioned in the registration.
2. Choice of products and services covered by the deposit
A trademark only grants exclusivity to its owner to designate the goods and services referred to in the application and for which it has been registered at INPI.
This trademark right enables the owner to prevent a third party from using the same (or a similar) sign to sell identical (or similar) goods and services.
On the other hand, an identical sign can in principle be used by another company for different products, provided there is no risk of confusion as to the origin of the goods.
That's why, prior to registration, you need to identify precisely the products or services that your company will market under this trademark.
For the purposes of trademark registration and the administrative management of trademark registers by industrial property offices, products and services are subject to an international classification based on the Nice Classification, resulting from the 1957 Nice Agreement.
This classification comprises 45 classes: classes 1 to 34 designate different product categories, while classes 35 to 45 refer to service categories.
For example, class 25 covers products relating to clothing, footwear and headwear. Financial, monetary or banking services, as well as insurance services, are grouped together in class 36.
Now that you've identified the products and services to which your trademark will apply, it's time to ensure that your proposed trademark meets the validity requirements for registration.
3. Check that the conditions for the validity of your trademark are fulfilled
Registration of a trademark with the INPI requires that several conditions of validity are met:
Your trademark must be distinctive: it must enable consumers to identify the commercial origin of the goods and services it designates. In other words, the trademark must not be a common term used to designate the goods and services in question.
Your trademark must be lawful: it must not be contrary to public order, for example by including insults or discriminatory or degrading words. The presence of flags or official emblems is also prohibited.
Your trademark must not be deceptive: it must not be such as to mislead consumers, particularly as to the nature or geographical origin of products and services.
Your trademark must be available: it must not infringe a prior right held by a third party (protected trademark, company name, trade name, domain name, copyright, etc.).
INPI checks itself that these first three conditions are met. As for the availability of your trademark, it's up to you to carry out the necessary prior searches.
For more information on availability research, consult the article "The method for checking trademark availability in France".
Once these steps have been completed, you can begin the process of registering your trademark at INPI.
Procedure to register a trademark at INPI
Trademark applications can now be submitted exclusively online via INPI's e-procedures portal, the Trademarks Portal.
There are 7 steps to trademark registration.
The trademark registration procedure can be carried out at INPI using either an “expert” or a “guided” mode.
Step 1: Select the type of application
In expert mode, INPI gives you 5 options to choose from:
Apply for French trademark registration
Transforming a European Union trademark into a French trademark application
Transforming an international registration into a French trademark application
Apply for registration of a guarantee trademark
Apply for registration of a collective trademark
Select the option corresponding to your needs.
Step 2: Fill in the details of the various parties involved
You will then be asked to enter the details of the various people involved in the filing procedure:
The applicant: this is the person on whose behalf the trademark is registered. This is the “owner” of the trademark.
The representative: this is the person who represents the applicant before the INPI, for example a lawyer or an industrial property counsel.
The addressee: this is the person to whom INPI will send notifications relating to the registration procedure, as well as official documents concerning the trademark (registration certificate, renewal certificate, etc.).
The signatory: the signatory is the person who holds the e-procedures account.
Once that's done, it's time to fill in the information about your trademark itself.
Step 3: Select your trademark type and enter your sign
You must then indicate the type of mark you wish to register: word trademark, figurative trademark, color trademark, hologram trademark, shape trademark, sound trademark, position trademark, pattern trademark, movement trademark, multimedia trademark, or other.
This selection will depend on the choice you make at the sign selection stage described above, which is why it's important to think about this question beforehand.
Once you've selected the type of trademark, you'll also need to fill in the sign you've chosen: the word or group of words, the letter, sign, figure or number that will make up your word mark, the logo or drawing for your figurative mark, the shape for your shape mark, the sound for your sound mark, etc.
Then you need to select the products and services for which your trademark will be protected.
Step 4: Identify the products and services for which you are seeking protection
You can choose to have your products and services pre-written according to the different classes, or you can write them as you wish. In the latter case, however, the wording must be sufficiently precise. Failing this, the INPI may ask you to clarify the wording of the goods and services at a later date, which could result in a delay or even rejection of the registration if the wording is not precise enough.
Step 5: Choose any options
You will then be able to check two optional options:
Claiming priority: when a person files a trademark application with an office in a member country of the Paris Union (180 member states) or the World Trade Organization (WTO, 166 member states), he or she may, within 6 months of this first filing, file a second application in one of these member states, while benefiting from the priority date of the first application.
Extension of protection: as a matter of principle, a trademark registered with the INPI is protected throughout France, with the exception of French Polynesia. This overseas country has its own industrial property jurisdiction. To protect your trademark in this territory, you will need to extend its protection, in return for payment of an additional fee of €60.
Step 6: Check and validate the registration summary
You will be presented with a summary of the information you have previously entered. You will be shown details of the calculation and the amount of fees that will be due to INPI to finalize the registration.
Check them carefully and if they are correct, validate them.
Step 7: Pay fees to INPI
Finalizing the trademark registration procedure requires payment of the fees due to INPI for registering your trademark.
The cost of registration depends on the number of product and service classes you have selected:
The fee for a one-class deposit is €190.
For each additional class, you must add €40.
Extended protection in French Polynesia costs €60.
For example, registering a French trademark in 6 classes, with extended protection, costs a total of €450 (190 + 5x40 + 60).
Once the fees have been paid, the INPI takes over the registration process.
The INPI registration procedure after validation of the application
Once the fees have been paid, your trademark application is registered at INPI. A national registration number is assigned to your application.
INPI will send you a dated filing summary by e-mail.
Within 6 weeks, your application will be published in the Bulletin officiel de la propriété industrielle (BOPI) and the corresponding publication certificate will be sent to you. Within 5 months, INPI will then examine your application: checking validity conditions, filling in the application form correctly, paying fees, etc.
At the same time, publication of the registration in the BOPI starts a 2-month period during which third parties can oppose the registration of your trademark, if they consider that it infringes a prior right of which they are the owner. The purpose of conducting a prior availability search is precisely to avoid such a situation, since you will have identified the prior rights likely to hinder the registration of your trademark.
Finally, if no third party has filed an opposition to the registration of your trademark, and INPI considers that the conditions of validity of your application have been met, the registration of your trademark is published in the BOPI. A registration certificate, guaranteeing that your trademark has been registered, is sent to you.
This completes the procedure for registering your trademark.
You benefit from a 10-year trademark right, which can be renewed indefinitely.
Would you like to register a trademark in France?
The firm can help you define your protection strategy. It helps you select the products and services best suited to your project. On your behalf, it takes care of the formalities involved in registering with the INPI, and send you the official documents.
Price on quotation: the cost depends on the number of classes involved and any options.
Contact the firm for professional, personalized advice on registering your trademark.
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