Patent law: patent applications in France and abroad by our lawyers
The industrial property title that is the patent gives its owner the right to prohibit any unauthorized third party from reproducing the invention as defined in the claims.
In all technological fields, inventions that are new, involve an inventive step, and are capable of industrial application are patentable. The term of protection conferred by a patent is 20 years, subject to payment of annual fees.
Our mission: to guide you through processes such as prior art searches, necessary for assessing the novelty and relevance of the invention, drafting the description and claims, filing procedures in France and abroad and opposition proceedings before the EPO, monitoring patents filed by third parties, and negotiating and drafting your assignment, license, trade secret, confidentiality, or know-how agreements.
What is a patent for an invention?
A patent is a property right that protects a technical innovation. It grants an exclusive right to prohibit any exploitation by a third party without the consent of the patent holder.
It is a title issued for a period of 20 years, which in the case of medicines can be extended by a Supplementary Protection Certificate.
Patent law is governed by the Intellectual Property Code in France and by the European Patent Convention in Europe. Our consulting engineers closely monitor patent granting procedures in France, Europe, and abroad to offer our clients relevant strategies for managing their patent portfolios, from both a technical and legal perspective.
And when the situation requires it, our consulting engineers support our clients' cases to patent their invention during oral proceedings at the European Patent Office in The Hague, as well as in Munich, where the firm LE GUEN & ASSOCIÉS has been present for 25 years.
Our approach to the profession
It should be noted that our approach to consulting is based on trust and transparency. The patent engineers at LE GUEN MAILLET are particularly quick to point out when an invention appears to lack novelty or significantly lacks inventive step in light of the prior art presented in the file (or according to their knowledge of the technical field), or when the invention in question appears to fall outside the scope of patentability in its current form.
Furthermore, the patent engineers at Cabinet LE GUEN MAILLET are aware that the business and research world sometimes requires prompt action (e.g., imminent disclosure), and that at the request of certain clients, processing times much shorter than those mentioned above may prove essential.
