Registering a Trademark in France from the US

Who this page is for

This page is written for US businesses moving into France or the wider EU, for in-house counsel building a European filing budget, and for US trademark attorneys looking for a French and EU foreign associate. You already know USPTO practice, the Lanham Act, and the TTAB. What follows is not another walkthrough of French filing mechanics (those live on the pages linked below); it is the layer above them: which of the three routes into France fits your situation, and the handful of things that behave differently once you cross the Atlantic.

If you want the step-by-step of a national filing, start with French trademark registration. This page assumes you are deciding, not yet filing.

The three routes into France

There are three lawful ways for a US company to hold trademark rights that cover France. They are not ranked; the right one depends on your market, your budget, and what you already own at the USPTO.

1. A direct French filing at the INPI. The Institut national de la propriété industrielle is France’s trademark, design and patent office, and its counterpart to the USPTO; it registers a national mark covering France. This is the route when France is your first or primary European market, when you want a low official fee, or when you want a national title that cannot be dragged down by a prior right somewhere else in Europe. Full mechanics: French trademark registration.

2. An EU trademark at the EUIPO. One filing at the EUIPO (the European Union Intellectual Property Office) produces a single unitary right covering all 27 member states, France included. This is the route when your plan is genuinely multi-country European. The catch: a single prior right in any one member state can block or cancel the whole registration, so it is all 27 or nothing. Full mechanics, including the conversion safety net: EU trademark registration.

3. A Madrid extension from a USPTO base. If you already hold, or are filing, a USPTO application or registration, the Madrid Protocol lets you extend it to France, the EU, and dozens of other jurisdictions through one filing at WIPO. This is the route when you are building an international program from a US home base. The five-year catch: the international registration depends on that USPTO base, so a loss at home can propagate abroad (the central attack). Full mechanics: international trademarks and the Madrid Protocol.

A quick way to see the trade-off:

Route	Best when	Watch for
French filing (INPI)	France is the first or main market	Covers France only
EU trademark (EUIPO)	Several EU markets at once	All 27 or nothing; one prior right can sink it
Madrid from a USPTO base	Extending a US brand across many countries	Five-year dependency on the US base (central attack)

For many US clients the mature answer combines two of these: an EU trademark for breadth plus a French national mark that survives whatever happens to the EU right. The incremental cost is modest, and the two routes are set side by side on the fees and costs page.

Your six-month priority clock

The one date every US filer has to calendar: a US application starts a six-month window under the Paris Convention to file in France or the EU and claim the US filing date. US practitioners know the mechanism as a Section 44(d) priority claim; it works the same way inbound to Europe. File within six months, and for deciding who has the earlier right your French or EU filing is treated as made on your US date. Miss the window, and you file with a later date, exposed to anything that happened in between.

One trap has no US equivalent. When you claim that priority before the INPI, the certified priority document and a French translation must reach the office within three months of the French filing, and the INPI sends no reminder. The EUIPO is more forgiving. The full rule, with a worked example, is on priority right.

First to file, not first to use

This is the conceptual shock for a US brand owner. In France, as across the EU, trademark rights are acquired by registration, not by use in commerce. Article L712-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code is explicit: ownership belongs to whoever registers. There is no French version of common-law rights built up through use, apart from a narrow exception for genuinely well-known marks, which is a high bar.

The practical consequence is blunt. A USPTO registration and years of US use give you nothing in France by themselves. A competitor, a distributor, or a squatter can file your brand in France or the EU before you do, and your US seniority will not, on its own, undo that. If France or Europe is on your roadmap, file there; do not rely on rights that stop at the US border. This is the single strongest reason to move early through one of the three routes above. See French trademark registration and EU trademark registration.

Do you need a French or EU representative?

Often, yes. Before the EUIPO, a party domiciled outside the European Economic Area must act through a qualified representative for all proceedings beyond the mere filing of the application (Article 120 EUTMR). Before the INPI, an applicant with neither a domicile nor a place of business in the EU or EEA must likewise appoint a qualified representative for proceedings before the office, with a narrow carve-out for the act of filing itself.

In practice the point rarely arises alone: a US company filing in Europe is already working through European attorneys for the clearance search, the specification, and any objection or opposition, and those attorneys act as the representative of record. We act in that capacity before both the INPI and the EUIPO for US companies, and as the French and EU associate for US law firms. Everything is handled remotely; there is no need to travel or to keep a European office. Where a route runs into an earlier right, see responding to a trademark opposition.

Costs and timelines

Figures move, so treat these as orientation and confirm the current amount before you file. The consolidated detail, in EUR and USD, is on the fees and costs page, and there is an interactive fee calculator.

• French filing (INPI). Official fees from €190 for one class, €40 per additional class, €60 to add French Polynesia. A smooth application registers in roughly four to five months; third parties have two months from publication to oppose.
• EU trademark (EUIPO). Official fees of €850 for the first class, €50 for the second, and €150 for each further class. The opposition window is three months from publication, and the overall procedure typically runs faster than the French route despite that longer window.
• Madrid from a USPTO base. WIPO fees are paid in Swiss francs and depend on the classes, the office of origin, and the countries designated, so they do not fit a simple table; WIPO publishes an official calculator we use when preparing an estimate.

A clearance search covering France and the EU before you file is the standard way to price prior-rights risk into the decision, rather than discover it after payment.

Frequently asked questions

France or the EU: which should a US company file first?

It depends on your footprint. If France is your first or main European market, a national INPI filing is inexpensive and cannot be sunk by a prior right elsewhere in the EU. If you are entering several member states at once, an EU trademark covers all 27 in one filing. Many US brands with a French center of gravity end up holding both.

Can we use our USPTO application as the basis to reach France?

Yes. A USPTO application or registration can serve as the basic mark for a Madrid Protocol extension to France and the EU, and it can also anchor a six-month Paris Convention priority claim. For five years the Madrid registration depends on that US base, and a successful challenge at home can reach the foreign designations.

Do we need a French lawyer to file in France?

For the mere act of filing, a US company can appear on its own. For anything beyond it, an objection, an opposition, or a proceeding before the office, a holder based outside the EU or EEA must act through a qualified representative before both the INPI and the EUIPO. In practice US filers work through European counsel from the start, and the whole process is handled remotely.

Does our US trademark protect us in France?

No. Trademark rights are territorial, and French ownership is acquired by registration, not by US use or a USPTO certificate. To be protected in France you register there, through one of the three routes on this page.

Deciding how to enter France or the EU? Contact us with your brand, your target markets, and any USPTO filings, and we will tell you which route fits, in English.