Industrial property titles grant rights and privileges to their holders. Commonly, the general public has the impression that they are simply certificates attesting to anteriority. “I had the idea first! But industrial property law is a little more complex than that. While it’s useful to have precisely dated evidence, a Soleau envelope is hardly a substitute for a patent.
Your electronic Soleau envelope
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The undeniable advantages of the Soleau envelope
The Soleau envelope is a time-stamping system for documents proposed byINPI, which is quick to file, quick to obtain, and inexpensive. Today, the electronic Soleau envelope makes the procedure even simpler. In this context, as an Industrial Property Attorney, we can help you define which elements should be time-stamped and when. For a global vision and well-considered strategic choices, the CPI is able to direct you towards the right procedures at the right time.
A similar time-stamping can also be carried out by a bailiff (commissaire de justice) or a notary. If the Soleau envelope is limited in size or file weight, these physical constraints are no longer valid with a bailiff or notary. For example, laboratory notebooks recording research work can be time-stamped.
💡N.B.:
From July 1, 2022, the term to be used for “huissier de justice” becomes “commissaire de justice”.
Time-stamping documents, an interesting step in your industrial property strategy
In the course of your work, you will undoubtedly have documents showing your progress. By opting for atime-stamping system, you obtain legal proof of your anteriority on the elements displayed. With the Soleau envelope, for a period of 10 years after filing, INPI can return the documents to you.
When it comes to litigation and counterfeiting, no proof is too much! Reminder: validity periods for IP permits
- Patent validity: 20 years
- Design validity: 25 years
- Utility certificate: 10 years
NEW
Time-stamping a document on the BlockChain is booming. It’s equivalent to the Soleau envelope, except that there’s no trusted third party (the INPI) to guarantee the accuracy of the time-stamping content and date. Its major advantage is its cost, around 5 to 10 times less than the Soleau envelope.
How to fill a Soleau envelope.
Time-stamping documents does not grant a monopoly
Contrary to the misconceptions you may have heard, time-stamping documents, for example by filing a soleau envelope, will not protect you against counterfeiting or prevent a competitor from filing a patent on your invention. It is simply a record of your work, enabling you to certify that you had these resources at a given moment. On the other hand, the monopoly of the invention will be granted to the first person to file the patent, since the first person to come up with the idea has no priority at all!
So if you’re the first to invent, you file a soleau envelope and later your competitor files a patent on the same invention, you won’t be able to oppose it. The soleau envelope will still allow you to exploit your invention in France without the risk of being condemned for infringement: you will have proved your “prior personal possession”.
The Soleau envelope also remains an interesting procedure, particularly in the research and development phase, to precisely date the progress of work, as does the laboratory notebook.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Soleau envelope is not a title to industrial property. It cannot be assigned! This is all the more important in the case of a Soleau envelope deposited in the name of an entrepreneur: he or she will not be able to transfer it to his or her company or to a buyer.
Soleau envelopes cannot replace patents
The Soleau envelope is a date registration. It is not an industrial property title. A patent goes much further than naming an inventor. It enables you to assert your rights to the invention with the State, in particular by requesting seizures for counterfeiting.
Only a patent grants you a monopoly, and the right to prohibit others from exploiting your invention without your consent. It alone adds financial value to your company, and can be included as a capital contribution when you set up a new company.
Depending on the state of your work and your ambitions for your business, you don’t have to choose between the Soleau envelope and a patent. These two procedures are complementary, and form part of an intelligent industrial property strategy.
