The protection of industrial creations is ensured by a title issued by an Office: the patent of invention.

This title confers on its holder an exclusive right to exploit the invention for a period of 20 years, which constitutes a genuine legal monopoly and thus a powerful instrument to protect itself from competition.

Depending on the market of the invention, a patent can be requested only for France, for Europe and even for all countries of the world. However, it is important to keep in mind the cost-effectiveness ratio of this investment.

The procedure before the offices is complex and the legal conditions are strict. It is therefore strongly recommended to surround yourself with advice from a professional.

Once issued the patent may not be exploited directly by its owner but be subject to a licensing that allows to collect royalties.

Innovation can be expressed on plant living matter and lead to the development of new varieties with all sorts of advantages: resistance to predators or diseases, increase in crop yields, improvement ornamental or gustative, not to mention adaptation to climate change.

It is in fact an ancestral work of breeding and selection of plants which today benefits from the latest technical and technological advances.

The development of a new variety requires a significant investment and is protected by a specialized title which is akin to the patent of invention, but substitutes for it: the certificate of plant breeders ‘ right.

This protection title is issued by an Office and confers on the holder an exclusivity on the exploitation of the variety.

This protection system is particularly developed at European level, but it also exists at the national level. Under certain conditions it can be extended to many countries in the world.

In a society where the abundance of products and services prevails, it is imperative to distinguish these by using signs that indicate their origin: this is the function of the brands that are omnipresent in our daily life.

These distinctive signs do not necessarily imply a creative effort in their conception but rather in the arbitrary nature of their use in the relationship to the products or services to which they apply.

Under a few exceptions, to be effectively protected, trademarks must be registered under a system where the right is conferred on the first applicant. It is therefore relevant to do a research on possible prior art before committing a fee and, above all, to have problems with competitors…

Protection is possible at national, European and even international level and offices offer convenient platforms for use to a wide audience.

But the legal regime of trademarks is in fact simple only in appearance and it is perhaps better not to approach it alone if you are not familiar with it.

To meet the recurrent demand of consumers of agrifood products, it has been developed a series of specific signs that are close to the trademarks but whose function is to provide information, if not a guarantee, on the quality of these products, such as the red label, organic farming or the appellation of origin.

From production to distribution, all actors in the various agrifood sectors are concerned with the use of quality signs, particularly at the European Union level.

An ornamental effort accompanies many industrial objects in order to confer on them a particular aesthetic immediately perceptible to the users ‘ audience.

The creation of these ornamental forms, whether they are expressed in two (drawing) or in three (model) dimensions, is in fine succession to the freedom of the artist and the right intends to protect them as such.

In order to comply with the legal certainty requirements which must accompany the creation and diffusion of these ornamental forms in the world of industry and commerce, a system of specific protection has been developed by issuing a title of intellectual property by an Office following the filing of an application.

However, the unity of artistic creation means that this specific protection system is parallel to copyright, the regime of which is different, but which can therefore always be claimed. It follows that ornamental forms can be protected with or without the filing of a drawing or a model.

The choice that results from this duality of legal regime is sometimes a source of difficulty.

Copyright

If the work is also effectively protected by the law it is because it expresses the personality of the author: through the work it is the author that we want to protect in the expression of the originality of his creation.

In the conception of French and continental law copyright is therefore quite absolute in the protection it confers, whether it be the long term of the law (70 years), the incommunicability of certain aspects of the law (moral right), or simply the absence of any filing formalities.

But if the protection conferred by copyright is generous in its principle, the exact limits of the law are sometimes difficult to identify and the situations of counterfeiting are therefore not uncommon. It is necessary to protect it as much as possible by means of contracts and, when necessary, to assert its rights energetically, which does not necessarily mean in the context of a court trial, transactional solutions being open to all Stages.

Personality law

The aim is to ensure the protection of fundamental attributes inherent in the human person, such as image, name or respect for privacy. These rights obey own legal regimes.

We live in a market economy that is based on free trade competition. However, some economic agents may be tempted not to play the game by trying to obtain a competitive advantage by using all sorts of unfair, more or less hidden means. The law then intervenes to stop this situation and restore the economic balance between the protagonists.

The courts have long been confronted with these situations of commercial disloyalty which they censor by applying flexibly the rules of civil liability. It has thus forged over time a whole set of legal rules that are grouped under the name of “unfair competition”.

Whether it involves embezzlement of customers or employees, theft of files, parasitism or any other unfair situations, the judicial setting of these principles may allow a company to survive the attack of an inconsiderate competitor in disloyal acts and obtaining reparation for the damage caused.

The contract is the basis of the relations between the economic actors and, whatever the subject matter, the drafting of this Act must be surrounded by much care and, above all, adapted to the concrete situation. It is now indeed easy to find on the Internet a multitude of turnkey contract offers where it is enough to fill the blanks with a predetermined formula. This apparent ease must however be handled with caution because in the contract writing also the devil hides in the details and it can be advised to surround itself with advice of a professional for the establishment of a contract to measure and avoid future litigation.

The functioning of legal entities is surrounded by a certain formalism and multiple legal obligations which must be respected. The time of a business leader is usually too busy to allow him to follow the fulfilment of all these obligations and the use of a competent external law firm is the most economical solution to deal with it.