Application for European and foreign patent
Filing a patent with the INPI (French National Institute of Industrial Property) and protecting industrial and intellectual property rights are valid only within French territory. The firm Le Guen & Associés assists you with applications for extensions in Europe and internationally before the relevant offices.
Patent application abroad
Applications for patents abroad (European patents, in the United States, etc.) are generally subject to a thorough examination by the relevant offices.
During these examinations, the examiner may reject the application for lack of inventive step, that is, when the invention is obvious to a person skilled in the art, given the prior art. Therefore, in these examination procedures, the applicant is required to demonstrate the inventive step of their invention in response to objections from the examiner.
Our foreign colleagues have been partners for decades and defend the interests of our clients with the Examiners.
Extension: Protecting yourself abroad
If extensions abroad (European patents, patents in the United States, Canada, Japan, etc.) are planned, they must be filed within 12 months of the filing date. It should be noted that approximately three months are allowed to assess the invention in relation to the documents in the Search Report and to make an informed decision regarding the extension.
We remind you of priority deadlines and assist you in optimizing your protection decisions abroad as well as in the fight against counterfeiting.
How to obtain a European patent
The procedure is as follows. An application is filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) for a number of designated countries. The application is subject to a search report, published, examined, and then granted. Upon grant, the patent must be validated in the designated countries to provide protection in those countries.
Together we determine the countries in which the patent needs to be validated, taking into account many factors such as your markets, the location of your competitors and your budget.
Foreign patent application (PCT)
The procedure is as follows. A PCT application is filed, designating a number of countries (US, JP, AU, etc.) or regions (Europe). The application is the subject of a search report and is published during a phase called the "international phase".
The application and its accompanying research report are submitted to the originally designated countries: this is the so-called national or regional phase. Each application is then reviewed and granted according to the law in force in the country concerned. For example, for the regional phase in Europe, there is review, granting, and then validation as mentioned above.
The application may undergo a preliminary examination, which is carried out during the international phase. During this examination, an examiner assesses the novelty of the invention and its inventive step. Once this examination is completed, the application proceeds to the national phase, as described above. Examiners in the national phase are more or less bound by the outcome of the preliminary examination.
