Legal basis

Third-party observations are provided for in Article L612-13 CPI, paragraph 3.

Identification of the observer

There appears to be no obligation to identify the observer.

Time period

A third party may file an observation from the date of publication of the patent application (L612-13 CPI, paragraph 3) and for a period of 3 months after publication of the SRR (R612-63 CPI, paragraph 1, in conjunction with R612-62 CPI).

If an observation is filed outside this time period, it must be declared inadmissible (R612-65 CPI).

Content and form

The third-party observation must be submitted in duplicate (R612-63 CPI, paragraph 2) and must (R612-63 CPI in conjunction with R612-57 CPI), in particular:

  • cite the relevant documents; cite the relevant passages of the documents (page, column, line, or figure) with reference to the claims;
  • contain an opinion regarding the patentability under Articles L611-11 and L611-14 CPI (L612-13 CPI, paragraph 3).

The cited documents must be attached (R612-63 CPI), unless they are patents (however, foreign patents may be requested by the INPI, and the applicant then has 2 months to produce them).

Applicant’s response

If the third-party observation is forwarded to the applicant, they may respond within a period of 3 months, renewable once for an additional 3 months (though they are not obliged to do so, R612-64 CPI).

This response may consist of observations and/or new claims (R612-64 CPI).

INPI’s reaction

If the third-party observation reveals a document that manifestly affects the novelty of the claimed invention, the INPI issues a supplementary preliminary search report (INPI Examination Guidelines, I-C IX).