4. Deposit enforcement: the main procedural steps in France

The procedures for granting patents depend on national legislation. The details below relate mainly to France. However, virtually all countries have four main stages in common: filing, formal and/or substantive examination, publication, and grant or rejection decision.

The filing of a patent application is the act by which the owner requests the administration (INPI in France) to grant a private right over the identified invention. This application is accepted or refused after a formal and substantive examination that can take several years. In the event of a positive outcome, the administration issues a decision to grant the patent. It is only once the patent has been granted that its monopoly becomes effective, although the right to it arises from the date of filing (or priority, as the case may be).

In France, the main stages of the INPI...