The PACTE Act (“Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation” - The portal for the Economy, Finance, Action and Public Accounts) was promulgated on May 23, 2019 (Loi 2019-486 of May 22, 2019) and provides for various measures relating to patents and trademarks.
You will find, below, the new measures concerning patents, introduced by the PACTE Act:
(i) duration of the utility model,
(ii) creation of a provisional application,
(iii) examination of inventive step,
(iv) creation of a post-grant opposition procedure, and
(v) limitation period for infringement and invalidation of patents.
These various modifications will impact the practice of the INPI with regard to patents prosecution and grant. However, it is still difficult to assess how these new provisions will be implemented. NONY continues to follow carefully the different developments resulting from the application of these changes and will regularly keep you informed.
Hervé GICQUIAUX - French & European Patent Attorney
