Industrial Property Law

What is industrial property?

Industrial property is one of the two fields of intellectual property. Its purpose is to protect and promote your inventions, innovations and industrial or commercial creations. It covers trademarks, designs, patents and other distinctive signs.

droit de la propriété industrielle

How to protect your industrial property rights?

The legal protection offered by industrial property consists in giving a natural or legal person a monopoly on an industrial asset for a specific period.

In order to protect your intangible assets, it is first necessary to file an application (for a patent, trademark, design, etc.) with the INPI, the French National Institute for Intellectual Property.

Unlike copyright, industrial property rights are not automatically acquired. This is why deposits must be made with the INPI in order to obtain the protection provided by this right.

Once the registration has been made and validated by the INPI, the creator of a trademark, the author of a model or the inventor of a patented innovation has exclusive and free use of his assets. He also benefits from protection against any reproduction or use by a third part.

Dreyfus has a strong expertise in the field of industrial property, allowing us to understand in the best way the specificities of your issues concerning your trademarks, designs, patents, and other distinctive signs. With our team of experts, we provide you with legal and commercial advice tailored to your situation.

Explore our services and expertise in the industrial property area

What is industrial property?

Industrial property is one of the two categories of intellectual property. The purpose of industrial property law is to protect inventions and industrial or commercial creations. Thus, through industrial property, any inventor will add the value to his inventions and industrial or commercial creations.

Through industrial property, the rights holder enjoys a monopoly in exploitation. Covering various fields and creations, industrial property can govern technical inventions (through patents), aesthetic creations, designs and patterns, distinctive signs (through trademarks or geographical indications), but also software.

How to protect your industrial property rights?

The legal protection offered by industrial property law consists of conferring a monopoly of an industrial asset on a natural or legal person for a certain period of time.

In order to have an optimal legal protection for his commercial or industrial invention/creation, the inventor must file for an application (for a patent, a trademark, a design, etc.) with the INPI (the National Institute of Intellectual Property). This application will then grant the inventor industrial property rights to his invention/creation. Moreover, it will allow the creator to benefit from a monopoly in the exploitation of his creation for twenty years.

It is necessary to file for a patent, trademark or design application. Indeed, unlike copyrights, which are acquired automatically, industrial property rights are not acquired automatically.

Once the application is made and validated by the INPI, the creator of a trademark, the author of a pattern or the inventor of a patented innovation benefits from an exclusive and free exploitation of his assets. He also benefits from a protection against any reproduction or use by a third party.

Filing an application for a trademark, a patent, a design, etc. can be complicated and tedious. To avoid any problems, you may encounter with your invention/creation, it is recommended to consult a lawyer specialized in intellectual property law or an intellectual property counsel. Indeed, consulting a professional in intellectual property will allow you to follow up your project better and to develop your invention/creation with serenity.

Seeking advice from a lawyer specialized in intellectual property or an intellectual property counsel is to ensure the proper monitoring since he will intervene from the preparatory phase of your project until its exploitation, passing by its filing. Moreover, a lawyer specialized in intellectual property or an intellectual property counsel will also accompany you if you wish, and depending on the case, to enter into contracts with third parties in related to the invention.

In addition, consulting a lawyer specialized in intellectual property or an intellectual property counsel offers you security regarding the exploitation of your invention. Indeed, it is possible that certain inventions are prohibited from being exploited in a given territory.

Similarly, only a specialist in intellectual property law will be able to conduct preliminary research on the products or services that you find interesting.

In other words, contacting a lawyer or a specialist in intellectual property is to ensure that your project is launched in complete security.

The Dreyfus law firm has great expertise in industrial property areas, allowing it to apprehend properly the particularity of your concerns regarding your trademarks, designs, patents, and other distinctive signs. With our team of experts, we shall provide you legal and commercial advice adapted to your situation.