8. Deposits or other substitution practices

8.1 Registration of designs, patents and trademarks

The deposit is mandatory.

First, you need to do some research to make sure there's no precedence.

Then you have to go through a procedure that is controlled by an ad hoc body:

• Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI) for designs, patents and trademarks registered in France;

• the European Union agency responsible for registering trademarks and designs in Alicante, Spain, officially known as the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM);

• the European Patent Office in Munich, which registers applications under a European treaty;

• ...