Industrial Property

Industrial property law deals with the rules for protecting and securing the rights held in intangible assets by conferring on the owner of such rights, effective as from the preparation/completion of legal specific instruments/formalities (e.g. filing, registration, etc. ), a monopoly to exploit the title on such assets: patents, trademarks, designs and models, etc.

Industrial property titles, which aim at protecting a technical or commercial innovation through the grant of an exclusive right therein, lie at the heart of business life and constitute some of the most important and valuable assets for all types of economic operators.

In this context, our services are structured around two lines of action:

Legal advice

• preparation and negotiation of licensing agreements, transfer agreements, co-ownership agreements and (trademark) co-existence agreements, confidentiality agreements, technology transfer agreements, cooperation agreements, know-how disclosure agreements, R&D agreements;
• legal analysis in connection with inventions developed by employees/public agents, negotiation of additional compensation or fair price, interface with the Commission Nationale des Inventions de Salariés (French National Commission for Employees‘ Inventions or “CNIS”);
• completion of intellectual property portfolio audits and contractual due diligence investigations in connection with merger, acquisition, sale and disposal transactions.

Litigation

• assistance, defense and representation before the courts having jurisdiction to adjudicate industrial property disputes: Saisie-contrefaçon (i.e. search and seizure to document and establish infringements of IP rights), summary proceedings, infringement proceedings, invalidity proceedings, applications for revocation of IP rights, and patent, trademark, design or model ownership claims patent/trademark infringement cases and ownership claims;
• Legal assistance and representation in appeals against decisions of the head of the Institut National de la Propriété Intellectuelle (French Patent, Trademark, Design & Model Office).