Guides

Trademarks, names and starting a business: the guides

Clear, sourced answers to the questions you ask yourself before choosing a Name, filing a Trademark or starting your business.

• How to check whether a trademark name is available

  Trademarks, companies, domains, social networks: where to search, what to look for, and why a name missing from the company register may already be a Trademark.

• Filing a trademark with the INPI: steps, cost and timescales

  Who can file, how much it costs (€190 for one class), how long it takes and how long the Trademark is protected: the INPI filing step by step.

• Nice classes explained simply

  45 classes (34 for goods, 11 for services): what Nice classes are for, how to choose them for your Trademark and how much each class costs at the INPI.

• French, European or international trademark: which should you choose?

  INPI, EUIPO or the Madrid System: territory covered, starting cost, opposition period. Compare the three ways to protect your Trademark.

• Can you protect an idea? What the law says and how to build evidence

  An idea on its own cannot be protected. Copyright, e-Soleau (€15), patent, Trademark, non-disclosure agreement: what really protects a project.

• Company name, trade name, shop sign and trademark: the differences

  Four names, four types of protection: what each one protects, from when, in which territory, and why the Trademark remains the strongest protection.

• How to choose your business name without conflict

  A distinctive, available and protectable name: the criteria to meet, the checks to carry out before drafting the articles of association, and the mistakes that force a name change.

• Starting your business: the formalities step by step

  One-stop shop, articles of association, legal notice, registration, SIREN: the steps and official costs for setting up a company or a sole proprietorship.

• A similar trademark already exists: what should you do?

  Likelihood of confusion, similar goods, Trademark unused for 5 years, opposition, invalidity, revocation: assessing a prior right and your options.

• Choosing and registering your domain name: .fr, .com and disputes

  Who can register a .fr, for how long, what Whois shows, and how to recover a domain that uses your Trademark: SYRELI, PARL EXPERT, UDRP.

• Trademarks, names and ideas: answers to the most frequently asked questions

  Cost of a trademark, duration, classes, company name, domain name, protecting an idea: short, sourced answers to founders' questions.