Glossary
French: opposition de marque
A trademark opposition is the administrative procedure for objecting to the registration of a trademark application — the French/EU counterpart of a TTAB opposition, and in practice the main line of defense for brand owners, since neither the INPI nor the EUIPO refuses applications over prior marks on their own initiative.
When a mark is filed, it is published: French applications in the BOPI (the INPI’s official bulletin), EU applications in the EU trademark bulletin. Publication starts the opposition window:
Unlike the USPTO’s 30-day window, these deadlines are not extendable — which is why systematic trademark watch matters in Europe. A US brand owner accustomed to the TTAB’s practice of granting extensions of time on request needs to internalize that a French or EU deadline missed by even a day is fatal, with no equivalent of a motion to extend.
Standing to oppose belongs to the owner of an earlier right — typically an earlier French, EU or international trademark, but French and EU practice also recognize a narrower set of other earlier rights (such as a company name, a trade name or, at the EUIPO, an unregistered mark with more than local significance) as valid grounds in some circumstances. The core ground in the overwhelming majority of oppositions is a likelihood of confusion between the applied-for mark and the earlier right, assessed through similarity of signs and similarity of goods and services — the same substantive inquiry a TTAB opposition runs under its own multi-factor test, just packaged into a faster, paper-based administrative procedure rather than TTAB-style discovery and trial.
Opposition is administrative, in contrast to court proceedings before the Tribunal judiciaire, and it is optional. A successful opponent obtains the refusal of the opposed application — but neither the INPI nor the EUIPO can award damages or issue injunctions against use of the sign. Stopping actual use requires separate court action (see trademark infringement in France). This split mirrors the TTAB’s own limits — a TTAB win blocks registration but does not stop use of the mark in commerce either — so opposition and litigation should be thought of as complementary tools, not substitutes.
Both the INPI and EUIPO procedures also build in a negotiation phase before the merits are examined — a cooling-off period during which the parties can settle or agree to a coexistence agreement before either side spends money on written arguments. Many oppositions end at this stage rather than by a formal decision.
Oppositions against international registrations are filed with the relevant office: the INPI for the French designation of an international mark, the EUIPO for the EU designation. For a US company managing a Madrid Protocol portfolio, this means the same opposition deadlines and procedures apply whether the target designation was reached through a national French/EU filing or through a Madrid extension — the underlying office, not the filing route, controls the process.
Opposition is the procedure you will encounter both offensively — when policing your own portfolio through a trademark watch — and defensively, when responding to a trademark opposition filed against your own application at the INPI or EUIPO. See also: INPI opposition, EUIPO opposition, likelihood of confusion.