French Intellectual Property Code
In forceSubject to inadmissibility being raised ex officio by the Institute and to the cases of suspension or closure of the proceedings provided for respectively in Articles R. 716-9 and R. 716-11, the application for invalidity or revocation shall be examined in accordance with the following procedure:
1° The application shall be notified to the proprietor of the contested mark. A period of two months shall be allowed for the proprietor to submit written observations in response and, where appropriate, to produce any documents that he considers useful.
For applications for revocation based on Article L. 714-5, the documents produced by the proprietor of the trade mark must establish that the contested trade mark has been put to genuine use during the five years preceding the application for revocation;
2° In the event of a reply, a period of one month shall be given to the applicant to submit written observations in reply and to produce any documents he considers useful;
3° In the event of a reply by the applicant, a further period of one month shall be given to the proprietor of the contested trade mark to submit new observations or to produce new documents. In the case of an application for revocation based on Article L. 714-5, the proprietor of the contested trade mark shall have this period even in the absence of observations in reply by the applicant;
4° In the event of a reply, the applicant shall have a further period of one month to submit his final written observations or produce new documents;
5° In the event of a reply by the applicant, the proprietor of the contested trade mark shall have a final period of one month to submit his final written observations or produce new documents, without being able to rely on new pleas or produce new evidence of use.
As part of the submission of written observations, each party may request to present oral observations. The Director General of the Institute may also invite the parties to present oral observations without prior request if he considers it necessary for the purposes of the investigation. The parties shall then be brought together at the end of the written phase of the investigation in order to present their oral observations, in accordance with the procedures laid down by decision of the Director General of the National Institute of Industrial Property.
