Trade Marks in France: An Overview for Foreign Businesses

Trade marks in France matter to almost any business reaching one of Europe's largest consumer markets, whether through a shop front, a distributor, or an online storefront. A trade mark is a sign that distinguishes the goods or services of one business from those of another, typically a name, a logo, or another indicator of commercial origin. The decision that shapes everything else for a foreign business is the route: a national French registration through INPI, or an EU-wide right through the EUIPO that covers France together with every other member state. This overview frames that choice, explains what a French trade mark protects, and sets out the broad shape of obtaining and keeping protection. It links through to the France section at France IP and to the deeper guides beneath it.

What a trade mark protects

A trade mark protects a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of others, and that can be represented clearly enough on the register for the authorities and the public to know what is protected. In practice this covers words, names, logos, and a range of other sign types, provided the sign is distinctive and not otherwise barred. The right is tied to the specific goods and services for which it is registered, classified under the international Nice Classification that WIPO revises periodically.

What a trade mark does not do is protect an invention, a product's technical function, or a creative work in the abstract. Those fall to patents, to registered designs, and to copyright respectively. France's copyright tradition (droit d'auteur, the author's right) is worth flagging here because it differs from the badge-of-origin logic of trade marks: under the droit d'auteur tradition an author's moral rights are treated as perpetual, inalienable, and incapable of being waived or transferred, which can matter where a brand asset such as a logo is also an authored creative work. The economic rights in such a work, by contrast, can generally be assigned or licensed in the ordinary way; it is the moral rights that stay with the author. A trade mark, for its part, protects the badge of origin: the thing that tells a customer who stands behind the product. Registration gives the owner an exclusive right to use the mark for the registered goods and services and to act against confusingly similar later uses, subject to the limits in French and EU law.

The national route and the EU route

This is the distinction that matters most in France, and it is easy to conflate the two offices, so it is worth stating plainly. The national right is administered by the Institut national de la propriete industrielle, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), and protects the mark in France only. The EU-wide right, the EU trade mark, is administered by a separate body, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante, Spain, and protects the mark across all EU member states at once, France included, as a single unitary right. INPI is the French national registry; it is neither the EUIPO nor the European Patent Office, and keeping the three distinct avoids a common source of confusion.

Neither office is a branch of the other; they are distinct systems running in parallel, and a business can choose a French national filing, an EU trade mark, or a combination, depending on where it genuinely needs protection. A national INPI registration is often the sensible choice where the commercial interest is France alone, or where an EU-wide right is blocked by an earlier right in another member state. The EU trade mark is usually the more efficient option for a brand owner trading across several European markets, because one filing reaches the whole Union. The trade-off is that the EU right is all-or-nothing: a single earlier conflicting right or a descriptive meaning in one member state's language can undermine the mark across the entire EU, an exposure that a France-only registration avoids. We weigh this choice in detail in national versus EU trade mark, and the EU side is covered in trade marks in the European Union.

First to file

France, like the EU system, is principally a first-to-file jurisdiction: trade mark rights are obtained by registration, and as a general rule the party that files first secures priority rather than the party that used the sign first. There is limited protection for unregistered well-known marks under Article 6bis of the Paris Convention, and prior use can carry weight in particular situations, but a foreign business should not rely on use alone. The practical lesson is to file early and to confirm any prior-use nuances with French counsel before assuming an unregistered position is protected.

Examination, opposition and renewal

On examination, the broad shape is that INPI examines absolute grounds, that is whether the mark is itself registrable, distinctive, and not descriptive, generic, or otherwise barred. Conflicts with earlier third-party rights are largely left to the holders of those earlier rights to raise through the opposition procedure rather than being refused by the office of its own motion. This is the general position and should be confirmed with counsel for any specific case. It means clearance is the applicant's responsibility: searching for earlier marks before filing is prudent, because the office will not do that screening for you.

The INPI opposition procedure gives the holders of earlier rights a window, running from publication of the application, in which to object before the right is consolidated. The length of that window and exactly how it is calculated should be confirmed with INPI or with French counsel rather than assumed, and the same caution applies to the EU trade mark's separate opposition timetable at the EUIPO. A French registration runs for a fixed term and is renewable for successive periods on payment of fees within the prescribed window; confirm the current renewal period and any grace period with INPI. An application that meets no objection can proceed comparatively quickly, though disputes extend the timeline considerably, and INPI's current guidance is the reliable reference for processing expectations. The step-by-step mechanics are set out in our guide on how to register a trade mark in France.

Official fees apply at filing, opposition, and renewal, and they depend on factors such as the number of classes and the filing method. This overview deliberately quotes no figures: official fees apply, confirm the current amount with INPI or with local counsel.

Use and non-use vulnerability

Genuine use is essential to keep a French mark alive. A registration that is not put to genuine use for the relevant goods or services becomes vulnerable to cancellation for non-use once a grace period following registration has run, absent proper reasons for the non-use. That grace period is commonly a multi-year window, but the exact period and how it is calculated should be confirmed with INPI's guidance or with French counsel rather than assumed, and the same caution applies to the EU trade mark's own non-use rules. This is a recurring trap for businesses that register defensively across many classes and then use the mark only narrowly; claiming only what you genuinely use or intend to use is the prudent approach.

The Madrid Protocol route

A foreign business can also reach France or the EU through the Madrid Protocol, the international registration system administered by WIPO. From a single international application based on a home application or registration, an applicant can designate France as a national territory, or designate the European Union to obtain EU-wide coverage, alongside other member countries. Both designations are then examined under the relevant substantive rules, French or EU, but the centralised filing and management can be more economical than separate national applications when protection is wanted in several countries at once. The mechanism, including its dependence on the home mark in the early years, is explained in our overview of the Madrid Protocol.

Before you act

IPEnvoy is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice; this is general information. The French and EU systems both involve judgement calls on clearance, on the national-versus-EU choice, on specifications, and on opposition strategy, and the version-specific deadlines and fees here are deliberately left general. Confirm the current position with INPI's official website and a qualified local IP professional before committing to a filing strategy.