IP Enforcement in France: 6 Proven Ways to Win

France hands intellectual property owners a weapon most countries simply do not have: the saisie-contrefaçon, a court-ordered raid that lets a bailiff walk into an infringer’s premises and seize the evidence before it can disappear. That single tool is why so many cross-border patent and brand fights are launched first in Paris. But IP enforcement in France is far broader than one dramatic seizure. It runs through a specialist patent court, the new Unified Patent Court, customs action at the border, and, when the conduct is bad enough, the criminal courts. Here is how the pieces fit together and how to use them.

How IP Enforcement in France Works in 2026

The INPI registers French patents, trademarks and designs, but it does not enforce them. Enforcement happens in the courts, and IP enforcement in France runs on three parallel tracks that a rights holder can use together: a civil infringement action for injunctions and damages, customs action to intercept goods at the border, and criminal prosecution for deliberate counterfeiting.

What makes France distinctive is how evidence-friendly the civil track is. Before you even file suit, you can lock down proof of infringement through a seizure procedure that has no real equivalent in the United States. Get that first move right and the rest of the case often follows.

• Civil: infringement action for injunctions, damages, recall and destruction.
• Customs: border detention of suspected counterfeit goods.
• Criminal: prosecution of wilful counterfeiting as a criminal offence.

The Saisie-Contrefaçon: France’s Signature Weapon

The saisie-contrefaçon is the tool foreign rights holders envy. On an ex parte application, the court authorises a commissaire de justice (a judicial officer), often assisted by an independent expert, to enter the alleged infringer’s premises and seize samples, documents, accounts and manufacturing evidence, all without warning.

There is a catch, and it is unforgiving. After the seizure you must file your action on the merits within a strict deadline: 20 working days or 31 calendar days, whichever is longer. Miss it and the seizure is annulled and you can be liable in damages to the party you raided. The procedure is available for patents, trademarks, designs and copyright, which makes it the backbone of IP enforcement in France across every right.

Used well, the saisie does two things at once: it preserves evidence that would otherwise vanish, and it signals to the other side that you are serious enough to have already been through their door.

One Court for Patents: The Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris

France centralises patent disputes in a way few countries do. Since 2009 the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris has held exclusive nationwide jurisdiction over patent and supplementary protection certificate litigation. Every French patent infringement or validity action, wherever the parties are based, is heard by the same specialist Paris court and its dedicated IP chambers.

Trademarks and designs are spread across a handful of designated regional tribunals rather than concentrated in one, and Paris also sits as France’s court for European Union trade mark disputes; if you are still securing rights, our guide to trademark registration in France covers the front end. For patent owners, the concentration is a real advantage: the judges see these cases constantly, so the law is predictable and the pleadings can be pitched to an expert bench. If your dispute is purely national, this is where it lands, and our guide to patent litigation in France walks through the procedure.

The UPC: A Second Front for European Patents

Since 1 June 2023, France has a second forum for European patents. As a founding member of the Unified Patent Court, France hosts a seat of the UPC central division in Paris, alongside sections in Munich and Milan. A single UPC action can now deliver an injunction spanning all participating states, France included.

This creates a strategic choice at the heart of IP enforcement in France. A classic European patent that has not been opted out, and every Unitary Patent, can be enforced through the UPC for multi-country reach, or through the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris for a France-only fight. Opting a valuable patent out of the UPC keeps it in the national system and out of a single central revocation action; leaving it in buys pan-European scope. Decide deliberately, patent by patent.

Stopping Counterfeits at the Border with Customs Action

Litigation is not the only lever. French customs are among the most active in the European Union, and rights holders can file an Application for Action under EU Regulation 608/2013. Once it is on file, customs can detain suspected counterfeit or infringing goods at the border and notify you, giving you a window to confirm the infringement and stop the shipment before it ever reaches the market.

For brand owners in particular, a customs application is cheap insurance. It turns the border into a filter that works around the clock, and it frequently produces the leads that later feed a civil action or a saisie-contrefaçon.

The application is valid for a renewable period and can cover several rights at once, so a single filing protects a whole portfolio. When goods are detained, you generally have a short window, typically ten working days, to confirm that they infringe and to decide whether to pursue destruction under the simplified procedure or to move to court. Keeping your product images, authorised-distributor lists and rights details current in the customs file is what makes those fast decisions possible.

Criminal Counterfeiting: When Infringement Becomes a Crime

France treats deliberate counterfeiting as a criminal offence, not merely a civil wrong. A convicted infringer faces up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 300,000 euros, with the ceilings rising sharply, to seven years and 750,000 euros, where the counterfeiting is committed by an organised gang or involves goods dangerous to health or safety.

The criminal route is not for every dispute; it suits clear, wilful, large-scale counterfeiting rather than good-faith commercial disagreements. But the threat of criminal exposure, and the ability to involve the public prosecutor and the police, gives rights holders leverage that a purely civil system lacks.

Remedies, Damages, and How Long It Takes

A successful claimant in France can obtain a permanent injunction, an order to recall and destroy infringing goods, publication of the judgment, and damages. Preliminary injunctions are available where infringement is likely and the request is made without undue delay, so you are not always waiting for a full trial to stop the harm.

On damages, French courts weigh the claimant’s lost profits and lost sales, the profits the infringer made, and any moral prejudice to the brand, or may instead award a lump sum that cannot be lower than a reasonable royalty. First-instance proceedings typically run around 12 to 24 months. Combine that with an early saisie-contrefaçon and customs cover, and IP enforcement in France becomes one of the most complete toolkits in Europe.

Enforce Your IP in France with PerspireIP

From gathering the evidence behind a saisie-contrefaçon to building the prior art that wins an invalidity fight, PerspireIP supports rights holders enforcing patents, trademarks and designs across France. Explore our France IP services, including infringement analysis in Paris and prior-art litigation search in Lyon, and contact our team to plan your enforcement strategy.

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