Intellectual property attorney

The attorney specialised in intellectual property is an attorney whose activity is devoted to the protection, exploitation and defence of creations and distinctive signs. The field covers industrial property, that is, patents, trade marks and designs, and literary and artistic property, including copyright and software. The specialisation mention is awarded under the conditions set by the French National Bar Council.

Litigation work

First, the intellectual property attorney conducts infringement and nullity actions before the Paris Judicial Court, which has exclusive jurisdiction in France for patents, and before the Court of Appeal. Second, the attorney prepares and carries out saisies-contrefaçon, provisional measures and summary proceedings. Third, the attorney appears before the Unified Patent Court, where European attorneys are admitted as of right, and coordinates parallel proceedings before the European Patent Office and foreign courts.

Advisory work

Advisory work covers protection strategy, the drafting of licence, assignment and research and development contracts, the securing of relations with employee inventors and the protection of trade secrets. The attorney also acts in intellectual property audits in merger and acquisition transactions and in the negotiation of licences over standard essential patents.

Attorney and industrial property counsel

The attorney specialised in intellectual property differs from the industrial property counsel, who drafts and files the titles but does not plead before the judicial courts. The two professions work closely together. The rules of the attorney’s profession are available on the website of the French National Bar Council. In practice, the choice of an intellectual property attorney rests on litigation experience in the field concerned and on technical command of the sector. Dhenne Avocats concentrates its activity on patent and intellectual property litigation, presented on the page intellectual property attorney.