Accelerated grant procedure for anti-COVID patents / utility certificates

[10/05/2021] By decision no 2021-65 of 21 April 2021, the French Patent Office (INPI) introduced a 24-month accelerated grant procedure for patent and utility certificate applications covering inventions related to COVID treatments or medical devices, or used to diagnose or treat COVID-19.

This procedure applies to patent or utility certificate applications filed from 1 June 2020 and whose innovation was submitted to a competent health authority in order to be placed on the market.

To benefit from such procedure, a request shall be presented within a period of ten months following the filing of the patent or utility certificate application before the French Patent Office.

The French Patent Office thus intends to participate in the innovation effort to fight the health crisis caused by COVID.

You may access the official decision here.

We will be happy to provide any additional information in this regard.