The Council in industrial property

The Profession of Conseil in industrial property (CPI) is a regulated profession which has the capacity to represent its customers for deposit of the Brevet S and the trade Marks near INPI.

Description of the trade

The Council in industrial property has the role of offering his services to the public for advising, assisting or to represent the thirds for obtaining, of the maintenance, the exploitation or the defense of the rights of Industrial property, rights additional and rights relating to all related questions including with regard to the legal consultations and the drafting of Contrat S.

The Council in industrial property intervenes as regards trademark, patents and of services, drawings and models, protection of Logiciel or Databases, defense of the royalty , protection of the Savoir-faire and technology transfer, for the Négociation and the development of contracts in the field of the intellectual property (frankness, license, transfer…), like for the evaluation of the rights of Industrial property.

The French Loi requires that the Councils in French industrial property have high level university qualifications:

The Councils all in Industrial property are members of the National company of the Councils in Industrial property (CNCPI).

The CNCPI is a Moral person instituted by the law to represent the Councils in French industrial property near the governmental authorities, to defend their professional interests, to make sure of the compliance with the rules of professional deontology and to make known the profession.

The CNCPI makes sure of professional competences, independence and the ethical of the Councils in industrial property.

Incomes of the Councils in industrial property

In France, the profession of advising in industrial property is a regulated profession which is authorized (but nonobligatory) for the representation of the thirds as regards Brevet S near INPI. The inscription on the list of CPI is conditioned by the success with an examination organized by the INPI. To be able to be registered with this examination, the diploma of the CEIPI is obligatory like three working years professional within a cabinet in pi. The CEIPI, located at Strasbourg, is the only organization to deliver a diploma making it possible to be registered with the examination of CPI of the INPI. It is necessary before to have a diploma of Engineer or Vat + 4 scientist or legal to be able to follow the schooling of the CEIPI.

Incomes of the Councils in industrial property, just as those of the other comparable regulated professions, i.e. the Notary S, the Acknowledged S, the Pharmacist S, the official liquidators, are because of their situation of monopoly, relatively high compared to the average revenue of the French. The large Parisian cabinets are characterized by a structure at two levels: associates and employees. The associates can, thanks to the action leverage consisted the mass of the " councils salariés" to constitute annual incomes Nets of several million euros (1 has 5 million approximately).

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Of the incomes for translations

Part of the incomes comes from services from translation from patents.

Indeed, so that the European patentee can guarantee his rights in a country of the European patent, it must lodge with the National office of this country a translation of its patent.

It is the stage known as of " national validation of a patent européen".

There does not exist monopoly of the profession of the Council in Industrial property to lodge the translations with the French Office (INPI). Any patentee European can deposit itself a translation at the INPI to validate its patent in France. It is the same in all the other countries of the European patent (more than 32 at present).

However, one can use for the national validation the services of the Council in Industrial property. Usually, this one will first of all make translate the text by a professional, then will carry out an attentive second reading of the text translated in order to make sure of the good correspondence of the two texts.

The Council in industrial property takes expenses of " thus; relecture".

  1. the thesis " anti-traduction"

According to a rather interesting thesis, some claim that these incomes are almost without any loads and are thus constitutive of an important margin and that one includes/understands why the defense of the French language, often proposed, is a pretext more than one argument to protect this kind of second monopoly, that of the second reading of the translations of patents.

The paradox would come owing to the fact that the drafting itself of the patent is not very profitable, because the cabinet must take into account the whole of its general and administration expenses and especially the wages of the engineer-patent which writes the text, knowing that the time of drafting is longer than that relative to a simple second reading. It is thus the whole of the incomes " annexes" such incomes related to the Translation S, on which, of course a margin is made, and especially with the " validations" who allow to compensate for the least profitability of the nobler activity of the drafting itself of the patent. These incomes " annexes" do not represent any less unquestionable incomes, even if there does not exist any Monopole for the Councils in Intellectual property to carry out the validations.

From there, it is alleged that this structure of incomes makes it possible CPI to say that the suppression of this revenue, for example by the introduction of the community patent (in only one language for the simple description of the invention), project put in sleep since the Années 1970, and competed with by the organization of the whole of the professionals of pi of Europe via the OEB (the European Patent Office), will ineluctably force them to increase their fees of drafting of the patents. This increase in the expenses would be prejudicial initially with small the inventive individual, those which are illustrated with the Concours Lépine. Thus, the translations are justified by a desire to protect the small inventors. It would be to contain on a modest level the expenses relative to the small patents which will never be translated, that it would be desirable to maintain as many systems of patents, with translation and second reading, which there exists country where the invention must be protected, for that which deserves to be to protect internationally.

From there, there is only one step to claim that the most unquestionable consequence of a suppression of the source of revenue that the translations and second readings constitute would be, more than disappearance of the small inventors, the reduction in the incomes of CPI and their probable reorganization with a search for larger Productivité.

A reflection deserves to be carried out on the direction of the official positions of the profession of the Councils in Industrial property taking into consideration those and its strictly financial interest, in particular of the large cabinets, which are not inevitably the same ones as those of the independent Councils.

  1. the thesis " pro-traduction"

  • On this subject, one will not fail to be interested in the provision of the Code of the Intellectual property (CPI) as regards translation: to see in particular the article L.614-10 .

According to this one, if the French translation proved to confer an extent of protection broader than the text of origin, only the text of origin would be then to take into account to appreciate the extent of protection conferred by the patent. If on the other hand the French translation proved to confer an extent of protection more reduced than the text of origin, only the French text would be then to take into account.

In practice, that means that according to the translation quality carried out in the national language, the patent perhaps or not opposite with a counterfeiter on this territory for obtaining damages under the damage undergone .

  • a small example to illustrate these remarks.

The English company has is patentee delivered European and whose extent of protection is right and good according to the examination of the European patent application. The company has validates its European patent in France by lodging with the INPI a translation (via a council in industrial property or not) in French language so that its rights are founded in France.

A French company B emerges then which briskly counterfeits the European patent of the company has, and this throughout one 2 year before the company has does not see any. The company has reacts then and decides to assign in counterfeit the company B.

It is after analysis that the text of the French translation does not correspond accurately to the English text of origin of the European patent… and that it results from it that the company B is counterfeiter within the meaning of the English text, but not within the meaning of the French text!

The English company has, of which the rights seemed perfectly established, will not be able to thus request repair from the title of the damage induced by the facts and intrigues of the French company B during the 2 years preceding the assignment.

The company has will be able to obtain repair only starting from the deposit at the INPI of a corrected translation…

It consequently results a loss from it from markets and of turnover important for the company has to have initially lodged an erroneous translation with the INPI… From where importance of the exactitude of the translations for the phase of national validation of a European patent, and this in all the countries of the European patent.

  • It poses finally another problem for the small inventors and heads of French undertaking: that to know if they counterfeit or not the patent of a third. Let us recall that the level of studies of the head of French undertaking average is the Certificate of Studies, that is to say less than the Baccalaureat. Will it be able to analyze and include/understand the danger of a patent written in English or German? One can doubt it considering the quality of the language teaching in our country. Consequently, the obligation of translation in the national language to validate a European patent seems more than useful for good information of the thirds and the legal security of all.

  • This is why the intervention of a council in industrial property (engineer (or doctor of sciences), multilingual in technique, holder of a 3°Cycle of specialized right, agent duly approved after having undergone examination official of qualifications in France and Europe… and yes, all that!) can be useful, and that its service of second reading during a translation is far from being unjustified taking into consideration consequence that a mistranslation to involve little. Its service and its responsibility are at this price.

  1. CONCLUSION on the translations

The fact is that everyone is not multilingual, and that for the legal assessment of a text one cannot be satisfied with an automatic translation as one can make some on Internet. Let us note that the judges themselves can appreciate only parts written in official language, i.e. in French.

That the translations, at the time of the phase of national validation, are generating incomes for the Councils in Industrial property is exact, but that it is the only interest is perfectly erroneous and simplistic.

the serious security issues legal of the thirds and the opposability of the right of a person to another depend on it. Consequently, it should be considered that the translations, failing to better find, are an necessary evil for which wants to preserve a monopoly of exploitation of invention on a given territory.

See too

Internal bonds

External bonds

  • National institute of the industrial property
  • National company of the Councils in Industrial property

References

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