French Intellectual Property Code
In forceThe following may also be entered on the list of qualified persons provided for in
Article L. 421-1:
1° Subject to meeting the diploma requirements of 1° and 2° of Article R. 421-1 and provide evidence of at least eight years of professional practice relating to industrial property :
a) Persons who have practised within one or more companies, groups of companies, associations, foundations or public establishments;
b) Employees of a lawyer or an industrial property attorney, an association or company of lawyers or a company of industrial property attorneys, a solicitor's office or an attorney at the Council of State and the Court of Cassation;
c) Civil servants and former civil servants in category A or persons assimilated to civil servants in this category who have worked in an administration or public service or an international organisation;
The persons mentioned in a, b and c may have worked in several of the functions referred to in these provisions provided that the total duration of these activities is at least equal to eight years;
2° Persons fulfilling all of the following conditions:
a) Possession of a diploma equivalent to a second cycle diploma in higher legal, scientific or technical education, obtained, where applicable, as part of vocational training;
b) Possession of a diploma from the Centre d'études internationales de la propriété industrielle (CEIPI) at the University of Strasbourg or a qualification recognised as equivalent under conditions laid down by joint order of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, the Minister responsible for industrial property and the Minister responsible for higher education, awarded in the context of continuing professional training;
c) At least eight years' professional practice relating to industrial property, acquired :
-within one or more companies, groupings of companies, associations, foundations or public establishments;
-as an employee of a lawyer or an industrial property attorney, an association or company of lawyers or a company of industrial property attorneys, a solicitor's office or an attorney at the Council of State and the Court of Cassation ;
as civil servants and former civil servants in category A or as persons assimilated to civil servants in this category who have worked in an administration or public service or an international organisation.
The persons referred to in c may have exercised their activities in several of the functions referred to in these provisions provided that the total duration of these activities is at least equal to eight years.
Except where it is the result of duties carried out within an international organisation, the professional practice provided for in 1° and 2° must have been acquired in a Member State of the European Union or in a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or party to an agreement with France recognising such professional practice.
