A novelty grace period of 6 months is available if:
- Disclosures caused at officially organized or officially sanctioned international exhibitions
- Disclosure resulting from being made public for reasons related to the misuse of the inventor or its predecessor owner
yes. Before the applicant has received a final decision, an application to change the type of invention from a utility model to an invention may be proposed.
Reinstatement of priority is accepted on grounds of "due care."
A novelty grace period of 6 months is available if:
- Disclosures caused at officially organized or officially sanctioned international exhibitions
- Disclosure resulting from being made public for reasons related to the misuse of the inventor or its predecessor owner
Reinstatement of priority is accepted on grounds of "due care."
- via Paris Convention : 6 months from earliest priority date.
- Hague Agreement route: 6 months from earliest priority date.
- EU appearance route: 6 months from the earliest priority date.
INPI conducts formality examination and substantive examination of invention patent applications. Substantive examination begins automatically, without the need to file a separate request.
The initial protection is 6 years, which can be extended twice, up to a maximum of 10 years.
3 months
- via Paris Convention : 12 months from earliest priority date.
- via Nationalization of PCT : 30 months from the earliest priority date.
- Validation of European Patent in EPO member states: within 3 months from the date of granted of the European invention.
INPI only conducts formality examination of design patent applications.