Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - BNA

Designs
The EU adopted a Regulation introducing a single Community system for the protection
of designs in December 2001. The Regulation provides for two types of design
protection, directly applicable in each EU Member State: the registered Community
design and the unregistered Community design. Under the registered Community design
system, holders of eligible designs can use an inexpensive procedure to register them
with the EU’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), based in Alicante,
Spain. They will then be granted exclusive rights to use the designs anywhere in the EU
for up to twenty-five years. Unregistered Community designs that meet the Regulation’s
requirements are automatically protected for three years from the date of disclosure of
the design to the public.
Key Link: [http://oami.europa.eu/]
Trademark Exhaustion
Within the EU, the rights conferred on trademark holders are subject to the principle of
"exhaustion." Exhaustion means that once trademark holders have placed their product
on the market in one Member State, they lose the right to prevent the resale of that
product in another EU country. This has led to an increase in the practice of so called
"parallel importing" whereby goods bought in one Member State are sold in another by
third parties unaffiliated to the manufacturer. Parallel trade is particularly problematic for
the research-based pharmaceutical industry where drug prices vary from country to
country due to national price Regulation.
Community wide exhaustion is spelled out in the Directive on harmonizing trademark
laws. In a paper published in 2003, the Commission indicated that it had no plans to
propose changes to existing legal provisions.
Key Link: [http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/tm/index_en.htm]
Under the French intellectual property rights regime, patents, trademarks, and designs
and models protect industrial property, while literary/artistic property is protected by
copyrights. By virtue of the Paris Convention and the Washington Treaty regarding
industrial property, U.S. nationals are entitled to receive the same protection of industrial
property rights in France as French nationals. In addition, U.S. nationals have a "right of
priority period" after filing a U.S. patent, trademark, design or model, in which to file a
corresponding application in France. This period is twelve months for patents and six
months for trademarks, designs and models.
Patents:
There are two types of patents: patents of invention (Brevets d'Invention) and certificates
of utility (Certificats d'Utilité). Patents of invention cover all inventions. Certificates of
utility cover all inventions except those of a pharmaceutical nature, which are covered by
complementary certificates (Certificats Complémentaires de Protection).
In order to qualify for patent protection, the invention must:
* Have an industrial or agricultural application
2/15/2008 Country Commercial Guide for France 25
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
© 2007. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.