How to protect your gallery's name and brand

01Trademark registration with the INPI

The first step in protecting a gallery name is registering a trademark with the Institut national de la propriete industrielle (INPI). Registration grants the holder an exclusive right to use the trademark for the designated goods and services across the entire French territory, for a renewable ten-year period. This exclusive right enables the holder to oppose any unauthorised use of the trademark by a third party in the same sector.

The dealer must select the goods and services classes in which they wish to protect their trademark. The Nice Classification, the international system for classifying goods and services, comprises forty-five classes. For an art gallery, the most relevant classes are Class 16 (printed matter, catalogues, publications, posters), Class 35 (advertising, commercial business management, retail services for artworks), Class 41 (education, training, cultural activities, organisation of cultural exhibitions) and potentially additional classes depending on envisaged derivative products.

The cost of INPI registration is accessible: the base fee for an electronic filing covering one class is one hundred and ninety euros, with a supplement of forty euros per additional class. This modest amount is a negligible investment relative to the protection it confers, especially when compared to the cost of counterfeiting or unfair competition litigation. Galerie Perrotin, Galerie Templon and most leading galleries have registered their names as trademarks, a step that should be systematic for any gallery developing its reputation and building a loyal clientele.

02Prior availability search

Before registering a trademark, the dealer must verify that it does not infringe upon prior rights. An availability search confirms that no identical or similar trademark is already registered for identical or similar goods and services. The INPI provides a publicly accessible online database, but a thorough search by an industrial property adviser is recommended for complex cases, as public databases do not always cover unregistered trademarks that may nevertheless benefit from common law protection.

If the intended trademark is the dealer's surname, protection is generally easier because a patronymic name benefits from inherent protection under personality rights. However, if a namesake operates in the same sector, the situation can become complex and require a careful analysis of the risk of confusion. French case law has settled numerous disputes over the commercial use of patronymic names, and courts examine on a case-by-case basis the risk of confusion in the public's mind, taking into account prior use, the respective reputations of the parties and geographic proximity.

If the intended trademark is a fanciful name or acronym, the availability search is even more important because protection is acquired only through registration, unlike a patronymic name which benefits from complementary protection. The dealer must also verify that the chosen name does not constitute a generic designation (such as "Contemporary Art Gallery") which would be refused registration for lack of distinctiveness.

03International protection

A dealer whose activity extends beyond French borders — participating in international fairs, selling to foreign collectors, maintaining an online presence accessible worldwide — should consider international trademark protection. Two principal routes are available, each with its advantages and limitations.

The Madrid System, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), allows extending a national trademark's protection to one or more countries among the system's one hundred and thirty members through a single international registration. This system is economical and practical because it enables managing all protections from a single point, but it has the drawback of depending on the base mark: if the national trademark is cancelled during the first five years, the international registration falls with it.

The European Union trademark, filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante, confers uniform protection across all twenty-seven EU member states. The cost is higher than a national filing (eight hundred and fifty euros for one class via electronic filing) but the geographic coverage is considerably broader and the protection is autonomous, independent of any national registration.

For galleries that regularly participate in international fairs — Art Basel, Frieze, Paris+ by Art Basel, ARCO, Artissima — protecting the trademark in the countries where these events are held is an elementary precaution that avoids the risk of a third party registering the name in a foreign country. Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, which operates spaces in Paris, Salzburg, London and Seoul, has protected its trademark in each of these territories and in surrounding countries, a step consistent with its international presence.

04Domain name protection

Reserving the domain name corresponding to the gallery's name is an indispensable complementary protection measure in the digital age. The dealer should reserve at minimum the .fr and .com domain names, and consider the .eu, .art and .gallery extensions if available. The reservation cost is minimal (generally between ten and twenty euros per year per extension) and failure to reserve exposes the dealer to the risk of a third party registering the domain and using it to divert traffic, sell competing products or harm the gallery's reputation.

Cybersquatting, which involves registering a domain name corresponding to a known trademark with the intention of reselling it to its holder at an excessive price or profiting from the confusion created, is sanctioned under French law and through ICANN dispute resolution procedures (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy). A dealer who discovers that a third party has registered a domain name corresponding to their trademark can initiate a UDRP procedure to obtain the domain transfer, a relatively swift procedure and less costly than court action.

Social media constitutes an essential extension of the gallery's online presence. The dealer should reserve handles corresponding to the gallery's name on the principal platforms — Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube — even if they do not plan to use them immediately. Identity fraud on social media is a growing phenomenon in the art world, with fraudulent accounts impersonating established galleries in order to propose fake sales or collect personal data.

05Active trademark defence

Registration is only the first step in a protection strategy that must be active and ongoing. The trademark holder has an obligation to defend it or risk seeing it weakened, diluted or cancelled. A trademark that is not used for a consecutive five-year period may be subject to a revocation action by any interested third party, who will obtain cancellation of the trademark for non-use. The dealer must therefore be able to demonstrate at any time the effective use of their trademark in the classes for which it is registered.

The dealer must also monitor similar trademark filings by third parties. The INPI does not automatically verify the existence of prior trademarks when a new filing is made: it is for the prior trademark holder to oppose the new filing within two months of publication in the Official Industrial Property Bulletin. Trademark monitoring services, offered by industrial property advisers and certain online platforms, provide automatic alerts when a similar filing is made in the relevant classes.

In case of trademark infringement, the dealer has several judicial and extrajudicial remedies. A counterfeiting action, based on the Intellectual Property Code, allows obtaining a prohibition of the disputed use and compensation for the harm suffered. An unfair competition action, based on Article 1240 of the Civil Code, sanctions wrongful conduct that creates confusion in the public's mind, even in the absence of a trademark registration.

06Transmission of the gallery name

A gallery's name can outlive its founder and constitute a transferable patrimonial asset of great value. Galerie Maeght, founded by Aime and Marguerite Maeght in 1945, continues to exist under that name long after the founders' deaths. Galerie Daniel Templon, founded in 1966, still bears the name of its founder who continues to direct it. Galerie Lelong, now Galerie Lelong & Co, has maintained its founding name through several leadership transitions. These examples illustrate the durability of a gallery name as a transferable commercial asset whose value can exceed that of the stock of works or the lease.

The name can be transferred through sale of the business as a going concern, through inheritance or through agreement between the parties. A dealer planning their succession must anticipate the question of the name: do they wish the gallery to continue under their name after their departure, or do they prefer the successor to adopt a new designation? The answer to this question influences the trademark protection strategy, the drafting of transfer documents and the valuation of the business.

For galleries on Artedusa, the coherence between the gallery name, the registered trademark, the domain name and the platform profile constitutes a set of complementary protections that strengthen the gallery's digital identity and its credibility among international collectors.