France

The French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) serves as the competent patent authority in France. The French domestic patent system offers two forms of protection: invention patents with a 20-year term, and utility certificates (Certificat d'utilité) with a 10-year term. The utility certificate functions similarly to a utility model in other jurisdictions, operating on a registration basis without substantive examination, thus providing a rapid pathway to IP protection.

The French patent examination and legal framework underwent a fundamental modernization following the enactment of the PACTE Act (Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation) in 2019. Prior to this landmark legislation, INPI's examination of invention patents was largely restricted to formal requirements and novelty assessment; it lacked the authority to reject applications solely for a lack of "inventive step." This historical limitation often cast doubt on the legal certainty of French national patents. The PACTE Act revolutionized this by officially empowering INPI to conduct full substantive examination, explicitly including the assessment of inventive step, thereby aligning French national patent standards with those of the EPO. Furthermore, the reform extended the term of utility certificates from 6 to 10 years and introduced significant strategic flexibility, allowing applicants to convert a utility certificate application into an invention patent application at any time prior to the final grant decision.

Regarding post-grant and enforcement mechanisms, the PACTE Act introduced an administrative opposition procedure, allowing any third party to request the revocation or limitation of a patent before INPI within nine months of its grant publication. This offers a highly efficient and cost-effective alternative to judicial invalidation. Judicially, France employs a highly centralized system, with the Judicial Court of Paris (Tribunal judiciaire de Paris) holding exclusive jurisdiction over all patent validity and infringement disputes. In enforcement practice, France utilizes a formidable and distinct mechanism known as the infringement seizure (Saisie-contrefaçon). This allows a rightsholder to obtain an ex-parte court order authorizing a bailiff to conduct unannounced raids on an alleged infringer's premises to seize goods or copy critical commercial documents, providing an unparalleled advantage in securing evidence of covert infringement prior to initiating a lawsuit.