History

The Union des Fabricants was created by several pharmaceutical manufacturers at the end of the nineteenth century, when they realised that their products were being counterfeited in Germany and came together to create the “Charter of the Union des Fabricants”.

The Union des Fabricants began working for the international protection of industrial property. It took part in the drafting of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883) and the Madrid Arrangement concerning the international Registration of Trade Marks (1891). Encouraged by these successes, it helped drafting a large number of bilateral treaties aiming to increase the protection of industrial property between France and Austria, Portugal, the United States, Greece, Peru, Russia, etc.

In France, it was recognised as a public interest organisation as early as 1877 and came under the system created by the Associations Act in 1901. It took part in the creation of the National Trade Mark and Patent Office in 1901 and recommended the creation of the first register of trade marks, which was later used as the basis for the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI, the French industrial property office).