2. File the European patent application

The applicant may find it operationally advantageous to file a European patent application, given the centralization of the procedure at the EPO and the number of countries involved. There are several ways of doing this (see Obtaining a European patent: the different filing options [FIC 1624] ): filing with the INPI, which is the national office receiving the European patent application (option 1), filing directly with the EPO (option 2) or using the PCT international filing system (option 3).

In any case, for an applicant domiciled in France,...