Your brand is often the first thing customers recognise and the last thing you can afford to lose. For US and UK businesses trading in France, protecting a brand name or trademark is not simply good practice — it is a legal necessity in a market where rights are territorial and where a competitor, or even a former partner or distributor, can register your name before you do.
This guide explains how brand and trademark protection works in France, the routes available to foreign companies, and the concrete steps required to secure and defend your rights.
Why Registering a Trademark Matters in France
In France, the strongest and clearest protection for a brand comes from a registered trademark. Registration gives you an exclusive right to use the sign for the goods and services you have designated, and the power to stop others from using an identical or confusingly similar mark. Without it, you are left relying on far weaker and less predictable protections — and you expose yourself to the real risk that someone else registers your brand first.
This matters because intellectual property is territorial. A trademark registered in the United States or the United Kingdom gives you no automatic protection in France. If you are entering the French or wider European market, registration is an early strategic step, not a formality to deal with once a problem arises.
National, EU or International: Choosing the Right Route
Foreign companies have three main options for protecting a trademark that will be used in France:
- A French national trademark, registered with the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI), covering France only.
- An EU trademark (EUTM), registered with the EUIPO, giving unitary protection across all 27 EU member states in a single filing.
- An international registration through the WIPO Madrid System, which lets you designate France, the EU or multiple countries from one base application.
For a business that trades — or plans to trade — across Europe, the EU trademark is frequently the most efficient choice: one filing, one registration, protection everywhere in the Union. If your activity is genuinely limited to France, a national registration at the INPI may be cheaper and entirely sufficient. In all cases, protection lasts ten years and can be renewed indefinitely.
What Can — and Cannot — Be Registered
A trademark can be a word, a name, a logo, a slogan, a shape or even a combination of these. To be registrable, the sign must meet three basic conditions:
- Distinctive — it must be capable of identifying your goods or services. Purely descriptive or generic terms (for example, “Fresh Bread” for a bakery) will be refused.
- Lawful and non-deceptive — it cannot mislead consumers or breach public order.
- Available — it must not conflict with an earlier trademark, company name or other prior right.
You also have to designate the classes of goods and services your mark will cover, using the international Nice Classification. This is a deceptively important step: protection only extends to the classes you claim, so choosing them too narrowly can leave gaps a competitor can exploit.
How the Registration Process Works
Securing a French trademark follows a clear sequence, and skipping the first step is where most avoidable disputes begin:
- Availability search — before filing, check existing registrations to confirm your mark is free to use. This is where an experienced adviser saves you time and money.
- Filing — the application is submitted to the INPI (or EUIPO for an EUTM), listing the sign and the designated classes.
- Examination and publication — the office reviews the application and publishes it, in France in the Bulletin Officiel de la Propriété Industrielle (BOPI).
- Opposition period — holders of earlier rights have a window (two months in France) to oppose your registration.
- Registration — if no valid opposition succeeds, the mark is registered and your exclusive right takes effect.
Protecting a Brand Name Without a Trademark
Not every element of a brand is a registered trademark, and French law recognises several other rights that can protect a name:
- The dénomination sociale (company name), protected from the moment the company is registered with the Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés.
- The nom commercial (trade name) and the enseigne (shop sign), protected through actual use.
- Your domain name, which can support a claim against later confusing registrations.
These rights are useful, but they are narrower and harder to enforce than a registered trademark. Where no registered right applies, businesses often fall back on an action for concurrence déloyale (unfair competition), which requires proving actual fault and damage — a heavier burden than simply invoking a trademark. The practical lesson is that these protections complement registration; they do not replace it.
Enforcing Your Trademark Against Infringement
A registered trademark is only as valuable as your willingness to enforce it. If a third party uses your mark without authorisation, French law offers strong tools:
- An opposition before the INPI or EUIPO to block a conflicting later application.
- An action en contrefaçon (infringement action) before the competent tribunal judiciaire, which can order the infringement to stop and award damages.
- The saisie-contrefaçon, a powerful evidence-gathering seizure carried out by a bailiff, often before the infringer is even aware a claim is coming.
Two points deserve attention. First, specialised courts handle these matters — for EU trademarks and many French IP disputes, jurisdiction is concentrated in Paris. Second, a trademark can be lost through déchéance pour non-usage if it is not genuinely used for five years, so registration is the beginning of protection, not the end.
Practical Steps for Foreign Companies
If you are bringing a US or UK brand into France, a sensible order of priorities looks like this:
- Run an availability search before you launch, advertise or print packaging.
- Decide between a French, EU or international filing based on where you actually trade.
- Register in the right classes — and slightly ahead of, not behind, your expansion plans.
- Secure the matching company name and domain name at the same time.
- Monitor the register and act quickly against conflicting filings or uses.
The companies that protect their brands most effectively are those that treat French and European registration as part of their market-entry strategy, rather than something to sort out once a competitor has already moved.
Not sure whether your brand is properly protected in France? If you would like to review how your trademark and brand name stand under French and EU law — and close any gaps before they become disputes — feel free to reach out to LysLegal for a consultation. You may also find our guide on how companies protect their intellectual property in France a useful next read.