You can have the exploitation monopoly over a new product, know-how or process after an examination, which assesses the novelty, the inventive step (i.e. it should not be obvious for a man skilled in the art to discover the invention) and the industrial applicability of your invention. The duration of this monopoly is 20 years (except for patents on medicines), provided that the owner pays maintenance fees every year.
 The French patent can now be extended anywhere in the world under rules, which are now harmonized.

 

 A patent is costly if it is useless! This is the case if it is not correctly drafted (because it may not be granted or may not protect the invention exhaustively), if it is not exploited (useless, unused or unusable invention), or if the application is filed too early, too late or too quickly...
 By definition, a patent uncovers its contents 18 months after its filing, at the latest. As a consequence, third parties may oppose the grant of the patent, whose whole content may subsequently fall into the public domain, thereby making it possible for competitors to exploit your technology freely… Worse, if your patent is not correctly drafted, its content can be easily diverted or circumvented, despite the acquired title.

 

We suggest you send Cabinet GUIU a report as detailed as possible of your project laying out :

 The technical problem you have tackled,
 How this problem was solved up to now (if any solution exists),
 Your own solution(s) to solve this problem and, if possible, some significant drawings, photographs or sketches.
 
About a week after receiving all these elements, a Patent Attorney from Cabinet GUIU will tell you which protection is best suited. If we have enough information, we may give you an estimate, a schedule and further important advice. Please note that this first service is free of charge.
 
If the estimate suits you, we will schedule an appointment in Dijon, Paris or Strasbourg.
Here is the way we work: 
 
 As long as your results are not final or as long as you have decided not to exploit your invention, it is essential to secure your first results thanks to a title establishing prior private ownership (the Soleau envelope), which enables you in France to exploit the results obtained up to the date of acquisition of the title.
We advise you to acquire such a title of ownership each time you get a partial and significant result in a research study or a development. For this purpose, the new service provided by Cabinet GUIU – the "Protection Continue" (Continuous Protection) – aptly answers the needs of R&D departments.
 As soon as your results are final, Cabinet GUIU assists you at aech stage of your project :