Patent with the I.N.P.I.
www.inpi.fr

I.    The formalities

a. How to ask for a patent
b. What to choose between a patent and a utility certificate
c. How to fill out a patent delivery form
d. Deposit it at the INPI or at the prefecture

a. Verifying by the INPI
b. Authorization to make it public by the national defence services
c. Administrative and technical examination of the documents
d. Establishment of the research rapport

IV.  Examples

    Most of the researchers collaborate with industrials who finance their researches. So they do not have to care about the demand of a patent they need to deposit. However, some researchers decide to invest in their work, and to deposit a patent in order to sell it to industrials. So they have difficult steps to take; That is why we decided to help them by creating this site.It can be noticed that the establishment of the necessary documents, which requires precision et rigour, can be avoided thanks to industrial propriety counsellors. They are professionals whose job is to advise, assist ou represent in order to obtain, to maintain, to exploit or to defend the writes of the intellectual propriety (...)". They prepare the deposit for it to be conform to the required demands, and then assist the researchers. The industrial propriety counsellors gather in a national company which count several hundreds people in France. The list of the counsellors is available at the INPI.
 
 

The gathering of the documents

It has to be meticulously done because the documents have a legal value. The documents consist in:

• A description of the invention: It has to locate the invention in its technical background and must be detailed enough to be constructed by a professional. It is used as a base for the claiming. A to blur description could make the demand be rejected by the I.N.P.I. or cancel your patent by a law court.
• Claims : They define the extent of the asked protection. They consist in a preamble which shows the technical background and a characteristic part which identify the invention. The main claim must be large enough to cover all the various ways to construct the invention.
• Drawings(subsidiary): They complete the description.
• An abstract(subsidiary): It is a sum up of the demand. Written to be published in the Official Bulletin of the Industrial Propriety, it only has a documentary value, not a legal one. Abstracts are what you will consult if you do a search.

    The utility certificate provides the same protection as a patent, without the price of the research. The conditions to patent are the same and the production of a research rapport will be compulsory only in the case of fraudulent imitation. But it covers only a period of six years. The utility certificate can nevertheless interesting to protect short living inventions whose protection does not have to be extended to foreign countries. But to be used without a surprise, it requires a good knowing of the technical background.

    Once all the documents gathered, the only thing to do is deposit them to the INPI, or to the prefecture or your department (except Paris) or to send it by mail to the INPI. You must also pay the royalties which are necessary. Here are examples of the prices:
 
 

Verification of the documents

    The INPI verify that the description, at least one claim and the request are present : it so becomes "acceptable". The date of the deposit which is attributed is the official starting point of the protection. If you did not pay the deposit royalties, you dispose of one month to pay.

    Before the examination of the patent by the INPI, the national defence services can put the invention to secret. This step is imposed by the law to verify if the invention presents a strategic dimension, which make its publication be impeached or delayed. It is in general rarely the case, the authorisation to publish in often rapidly delivered.

    This exam is used to verify that the documents are correctly presented, that the demand really concern an invention, that the claims are based on the description, that the description and the claims are adequate... that is to say, that all the conditions are gathered to allow the publication, and the establishment of the research rapport.

    You have the possibility to delay the establishment of the research rapport. Anyway it is in your interest to ask for it when you deposit the documents to consider the possibility of extending the protection to foreign countries. The research is essential because it allows you to know if the invention can be patented. The preliminary research rapport supplies the list of patents and any other published documents which constitute "the technical background" at the date of your deposit. You will be able to present observations on the given documents and sometimes modify your claims as far as the initial description is not modified. In the three months that follow the publication of the preliminary research rapport, anybody will be able to present observations on the possibility to patent your invention; You will be informed of them and you will be able to answer. The INPI will then establish a definitive research rapport, which will be joined to the patent which will be delivered after the decision of the General Director of the INPI.

Whatever is the state of your folder and the advancement of the research rapport, the patent demand is published in the official Bulletin of the industrial propriety (BOPI), 18 months after the date of the deposit, with the preliminary research rapport if it is available.
 

• PRemote controlling of the heating of a liquid or solid product process
• electromagnetic field visualization and measure appliance .