Glossary
French: enregistrement de marque
In France, trademark rights are obtained by registration — not by use, as in the United States. This is the single most important adjustment for US counsel: registration is constitutive of the right, and an unused but registered mark is a fully enforceable right (at least until it becomes vulnerable to revocation for non-use five years after registration).
To be registered, a mark must:
Absent an opposition or an objection raised in examination, the process runs on a predictable timeline: roughly five months for an INPI registration and roughly four months for an EUIPO registration, from filing to grant. An opposition, if filed, suspends that timeline until the opposition is resolved — which can add many months, since the opposition procedure itself typically opens with a cooling-off period before the merits are even examined.
The examiner verifies that the mark is valid: sufficiently distinctive, compliant with public policy, and generally in conformity with the law. Examination covers both the sign and the goods or services, which must be precise enough for anyone to easily understand the scope of protection. Critically — and unlike a USPTO Section 2(d) review — the INPI and EUIPO do not refuse applications based on earlier marks; conflicts with prior rights are left to oppositions (INPI / EUIPO) and litigation. In USPTO terms, French and EU examination is closer to a Section 2(e) descriptiveness/functionality review than to a full clearance review — the office checks the mark against absolute grounds only, and leaves the crowded-register problem to be fought out between private parties.
A registered French or EU mark is a real, enforceable right from the moment it registers, with no need to show use to assert it in an opposition or against an identical later filing. But two clocks start running the day registration issues (or, for the renewal clock, the day the application was filed): the mark becomes vulnerable to revocation for non-use once it turns five years old without genuine use, and it must be renewed — at the INPI for €290, with a six-month grace period carrying a 50% surcharge if missed, or at the EUIPO with its own six-month grace period carrying a 25% surcharge — every ten years to survive at all (see trademark renewal).
A US company registers its brand name as a French mark to protect an anticipated market entry, then delays the actual launch by several years while it finalizes distribution arrangements. The registration remains fully valid and can be asserted against a later filer or an infringer throughout that period — European law does not ask, at the registration stage, whether the mark is actually being used. The exposure only materializes once the mark passes the five-year mark without use, at which point a third party can move to revoke it.
Registration takes effect once examination is complete and there is no opposition, or once opposition proceedings have ended without the application being rejected for all goods and services. A registration certificate is then issued.
Registration is the outcome sought through French trademark registration and EU trademark registration, and the starting point for trademark renewal ten years later. See also: availability of a sign, trademark filing.