FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Vanessa Bouchara, Adèle Maier and Louise Lacroix, Cabinet Bouchara
5.3 Ability to File an Opposition or Revocation/Cancellation Any natural or legal person that owns an oppos - able prior right, amongst those listed in 5.2 Legal Grounds for Filing an Opposition or Cancella- tion , can file an opposition or cancellation action based on prior rights. As detailed, the claimant does not necessarily need to own a registered trade mark since other valid prior rights can be invoked. The claimant will be invited to prove their rights pertaining to the invoked prior rights. Any natural or legal person can file a cancellation action based on absolute grounds of cancella - tion or revocation. Claimants do not necessarily need to be repre - sented, for instance by an attorney, before the FTO. Opposition fees before the FTO are EUR400 if the opposition is based on just one prior right, and EUR150 per additional prior right invoked in the course of the opposition. Cancellation fees before the FTO are EUR600. The average attorney’s fees are very hard to determine since they vary from one profession to another and are not based on any objective harmonised schedule. 5.4 Opposition or Revocation/ Cancellation Procedure In opposition proceedings, the opponent has a period of two months from the publication of the trade mark to file formal opposition against the contested trade mark application. The opponent then has a period of one month, following the opposition deadline, to submit their written observations and any other relevant
documents (including proof of the earlier rights claimed). Then, the “adversarial” phase begins: the appli - cant and the claimant will be able to submit written arguments and/or jointly request sus - pensions if they are discussing a possible set - tlement. The decision is issued within three months of the end of the adversarial procedure. If no decision is issued, the opposition shall be deemed to have been rejected. Cancellation Procedure Cancellation actions filed before the FTO have to be substantiated at the moment of filing. The adversarial phase is, then, identical to the adver - sarial phase in opposition proceedings. Under Articles L.716-5 et seq of the French Intellectual Property Code, French courts have exclusive jurisdiction to hear invalidation and revocation actions when brought in connec - tion with any other claim, or in a counterclaim falling within the jurisdiction of the courts (and in particular actions for infringement and unfair competition). French courts also have jurisdiction to hear inval - idation actions primarily based on the existence of prior copyrights, design and model rights and/ or personality rights. Revocation Procedure Revocation actions for non-use are filed through an administrative form requesting the adverse party to submit evidence of genuine use. Once the owner of the contested trade mark has filed evidence and written submissions, the adver - sarial phase begins.
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