Judicial Administration Structure for IP Disputes: Lithuania

Information provided by:
The National Courts Administration together with the Supreme Court of Lithuania and
the State Patent Office of the Republic of Lithuania

Supreme Court of Lithuania
Court of Appeals of Lithuania
Regional Courts
          Kaunas Regional Court     Klaipėda Regional Court  
  Vilnius Regional Court
                     
    Panevėžys Regional Court     Šiauliai Regional Court  
   
                   
 
     
  Civil Jurisdiction
Vilnius Regional Court: exclusive first instance jurisdiction over civil disputes related to patents, trademarks, designs and topographies of semiconductor products		   Civil Jurisdiction
Regional Courts: first instance jurisdiction for disputes involving moral rights of the author		   District Courts
Appeals Division of the
State Patent Bureau
(administrative instance)
     
               
           
      Administrative Jurisdiction
General jurisdiction for administrative IP offences		   Civil Jurisdiction
General jurisdiction for certain IP cases, such as those involving economic rights of the author, unfair competition, trade secrets, geographical indications, plant varieties and trade names		   Criminal Jurisdiction
General jurisdiction for criminal IP offences
Administrative Procedure
Appeals from adverse decisions of the examiner of the State Patent Bureau regarding registration of a trademark or design, or grant of a patent
Third party oppositions to applications for registration of designs and trademarks
Administrative procedure is compulsory in trademark invalidation and cancellation cases		          
                     

The Appeals Division of the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania has competence over administrative procedures in the area of IP. For example, it hears appeals from adverse decisions of the examiner of the State Patent Bureau regarding registration of a trademark or design, or grant of a patent. It also hears oppositions by third parties concerning applications for registration of trademarks and designs. Administrative procedure in the Appeals Division is compulsory in trademark invalidation and cancellation cases.

For disputes related to patents, trademarks, designs as well as topographies of semiconductor products, the Vilnius Regional Court has exclusive competence to hear civil cases in the first instance. Regional Courts are first instance courts for disputes concerning moral rights of the author. The Court of Appeals of Lithuania is the appeal court for these cases and the Supreme Court of Lithuania is the court of cassation.

The district courts have general civil jurisdiction over some IP cases, such as economic rights of the author, unfair competition, trade secrets, geographical indications, plant varieties, and trade names. For these cases, appeals are brought to the Regional Courts and the cassation instance is the Supreme Court of Lithuania.

District Courts also have general jurisdiction for administrative and criminal IP offences.

There are judges specialized in IP sitting in the Vilnius Regional Court, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Lithuania.

For more information about the Lithuanian judicial system, please visit:
https://www.teismai.lt/en/courts/judicial-system/650.

Although the District Courts have general jurisdiction over IP disputes concerning economic rights of the author, unfair competition, trade secrets, Geographical Indications, plant varieties, and trade names, the Vilnius Regional Court has special first instance jurisdiction to hear cases concerning patents, trademarks, designs, and topographies of semiconductor products. All five Regional Courts have jurisdiction at first instance for cases related to protection of the moral rights of the author.

The webpage of the National Courts Administration publishes statistics concerning the various judicial bodies, including IP case statistics: Statistika - Lietuvos teismai

IP statistics for the period 2016 – 2020 (first instance proceedings only):

Year Pending cases at the beginning of the reporting period Cases received Examined cases Pending cases at the end of the reporting period Length of proceedings
Less than 6 months Between 6 to 12 months Longer than 12 months
2020 91 242 223 110 154 34 35
2019 150 268 327 91 213 78 36
2018 144 310 309 145 208 68 33
2017 129 332 320 141 141 81 32
2016 120 275 265 130 171 62 32

More detailed statistics for 2020 IP cases (first instance proceedings only)*:

Case classifier no. Case category* Pending cases at the beginning of the reporting period Cases received Examined cases Pending cases at the end of the reporting period Length of proceedings
Less than 6 months Between 6 to 12 months Longer than 12 months
6.7. Copyright and related rights 15 58 63 10 53 6 4
6.7.1. Copyright 9 41 43 7 37 5 1
6.7.2. Related rights 0 2 2 0 2 0 0
6.7.3. Rights of database producers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6.7.4. Cases emerging from copyright and related rights 6 16 19 3 15 1 3
6.8. Patents 4 6 6 4 2 1 3
6.9. Designs 0 2 0 2 0 0 0
6.10. Trademarks 31 38 51 18 30 7 14
6.10.1. Trademark registration 4 3 7 0 2 1 4
6.10.2. Revocation of trademarks 2 1 3 0 1 1 1
6.10.3. Invalidation of trademarks 3 3 4 2 3 1 0
6.10.4. Trademark owner protection 10 16 21 5 15 2 4
6.10.5. Trademark cases 12 15 16 11 9 2 5
6.11. Trade secrets 3 7 5 5 3 1 1
6.12. Other intellectual property objects 5 3 6 2 2 0 4

* Data from the "Report on Civil Proceedings of 2020" (From website: Statistika - Lietuvos teismai)

Access to judgements in Lithuanian: 
http://liteko.teismai.lt/viesasprendimupaieska/detalipaieska.aspx?detali=2

Access to the decisions of the Appeals Division of the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania in Lithuanian:

- Database of appeals:
https://search.vpb.lt/pdb/dispute/appeal/search-form?lang=lt

- Database of oppositions:
https://search.vpb.lt/pdb/dispute/opposition/search-form?lang=lt

- Database of invalidation proceedings:
https://search.vpb.lt/pdb/dispute/invalidation/search?lang=lt

- Database of cancellation proceedings:
https://search.vpb.lt/pdb/dispute/cancellation/search?lang=lt

WIPO Lex – Lithuania

https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearchCLW/#advanced/national (Select Lithuania under "Country")

https://vpb.lrv.lt/lt/veiklos-sritys/gincu-sprendimas/teismu-praktikos-apzvalgos (Review of national court decisions, only in Lithuanian)

https://vpb.lrv.lt/lt/veiklos-sritys/gincu-sprendimas/apeliacinio-skyriaus-sprendimu-apzvalga (Review of the decisions of the Appeals Division of the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania, only in Lithuanian)

https://www.teismai.lt/lt/visuomenei-ir-ziniasklaidai/statistika/106 (The webpage of the National Courts Administration publishes statistics concerning the various judicial bodies, including IP case statistics)