A patent is designed to protect a technical invention. It can be a product or a process, but it must provide a new solution to a concrete problem. The inventor has the right, for a maximum of 20 years, to determine who may use, manufacture or sell the invention. At the end of the 20-year period, the invention falls into the public domain. To be patentable, an invention must meet these three criteria. It must be new. That's why it's important to keep it secret before filing. As soon as an invention appears on the Internet or in any other publication, it is no longer considered new. It must be inventive, i.e. the proposed solution must not be obvious to anyone with knowledge in the field. It must be capable of being used for industrial purposes: it must be possible to reproduce or manufacture it. Abstract ideas, scientific theories, discoveries of natural phenomena, mathematical methods, game rules, learning methods, diagnoses, therapeutic treatments, creations of plants or animal breeds, computer programs... are therefore excluded from patents. Let's take a look at how to apply for a patent.
From invention to patent application
Inventing an object, an application, a concept or a manufacturing process is all well and good, but is it a workable invention? To have a chance of success, you need to ask yourself a few questions: Is my idea technically feasible? Is it marketable? If so, at what price? Is it profitable? What similar inventions exist? A great deal of thought needs to be given to this beforehand: market research, competitor and market analysis, business plan, calculation of production costs...
Not all inventions can be patented. There are other ways of protecting an invention, such as a utility certificate, which lasts for 10 years, or copyright registration on a certified registration system.
Patents are part of what is known as industrial property, which includes utilitarian creations, as well as trademarks, domain names and appellations of origin.
Holding an industrial property title gives the holder the right to take action against third parties in the event of infringement or exploitation without the holder's consent. However, to protect your invention internationally, you need to use other procedures.
How to file a patent application
To obtain an industrial property title, valid throughout France, the applicant must contact the INPI (Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle). This is a public body under the authority of the French Ministry of the Economy, Industry and the Digital Economy.
INPI centralizes the national trade and company register. It receives applications for patents, trademarks and designs. The DATA INPI portal provides access to all company industrial property data. It also provides access to articles of association, annual accounts and company identity information.
The inventor files a patent or utility certificate application, covering either a technical novelty or a technical improvement. Since 2018, conventional applications must be made online on the INPI website. Once a patent has been filed, it is very difficult to make changes. It is therefore advisable to draft the application carefully, and even to call in an industrial property advisor.
Once the application has been filed, the applicant receives a registration number. The INPI examines the file, verifies the patentability of the invention, then sends a search report to which the applicant must respond within 3 months, or at worst 6 months.
After technical and administrative validation, the patent application is published in the Bulletin Officiel de la Propriété Industrielle (BOPI). The purpose of this is to inform third parties and allow them to contest the application. After a period of 3 months without objections, INPI sends a final search report. The patent is then published again in the BOPI.
It takes around 30 months from filing to granting of the patent, but the INPI can, on request and subject to conditions, accelerate the procedure and reduce the time to 20 months.
Filing a patent application inevitably has a cost. You will have to pay the following sums in succession:
- 36 € for patent registration
- 520 for the research report
- 90 € for issuing and printing the patent
In addition, to keep the patent in force, a fee ranging from €38 in the first year to €790 in the twentieth year must be paid to INPI each year. Fortunately, individuals, companies with fewer than 1,000 employees and non-profit organizations can benefit from a 50% tax deduction.