- REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA LAW ON DESIGNS
- CHAPTER I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
- CHAPTER II. PROTECTION OF THE DESIGN
- Article 4. Protection Requirements
- Article 5. Novelty
- Article 6. Individual Character
- Article 7. Novelty and Individual Character of Component Parts of a Product
- Article 8. Disclosure
- Article 9. Grounds for Refusal of Registration of a Design or Invalidation of its Registration
- Article 10. Other Grounds for Invalidation of Registration of a Design
- Article 11. Priority
- Article 12. Persons Entitled to the Design Right
- Article 13. Service Design
- Article 14. Designer‟s Personal Moral Rights
- Article 15. Information on a Design
- CHAPTER III. REGISTRATION OF DESIGN
- Article 16. Filing of an Application
- Article 17. Date of Filing of Application
- Article 18. Examination of Application
- Article 19. Examination of a Design
- Article 20. Filing of Appeal
- Article 21. Registration of a Design
- Article 22. Withdrawal and Separation of the Application
- Article 23. Opposition to Registration of a Design
- Article 24. Procedure for Examination of Appeals and Opposition at the State Patent Bureau
- Article 25. Certificate of Registration of a Design
- Article 26. Design Register of the Republic of Lithuania
- Article 27. Data of the Design Register of the Republic of Lithuania
- Article 28. Inspection of Application Files
- Article 29. Recording of Changes in the Application and in the Design Register of the Republic of Lithuania
- Article 30. Removal of a Design from the Register
- Article 31. Requirements for the Documents Filed to the State Patent Bureau
- Article 32. Time Limit
- Article 33. Fees
- CHAPTER III(1)INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION OF A DESIGN
- CHAPTER IV. DURATION OF REGISTRATION OF A DESIGN
- CHAPTER V. RIGHTS CONFERRED BY DESIGN REGISTRATION
- CHAPTER VI. TRANSFER OF THE RIGHT TO A DESIGN,LICENSING AND RIGHTS IN REM
- CHAPTER VII. INVALIDATION OF REGISTRATION OF A DESIGN
- CHAPTER VIII. DISPUTE SETTLEMENT. ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHTS
- Article 46. Institutions having Jurisdiction in Disputes relating to Designs
- Article 47. Enforcement of Rights
- Article 47(1). Right of information
- Article 47(2). Evidence
- Article 47(3). Provisional measures and measures for preserving evidence
- Article 47(4). Corrective measures
- Article 48. Recovery of material damage
- Article 48(1). Publication of judicial decision
- Article 49. Application of customs supervision measures
- CHAPTER IX. FINAL PROVISIONS
- EU LEGAL ACTS IMPLEMENTED BY THE LAW ON DESIGNS
ON DESIGNS
7 November 2002 No. IX-1181
Vilnius
(As amended on 1 July 2008 – No X-1659)
CHAPTER I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Purpose of the Law
1. This Law shall establish the procedure for legal protection, registration and use of an industrial design (hereinafter referred to as a “design”) in the Republic of Lithuania, as well as the maintenance of the Design Register of the Republic of Lithuania.
2. The provisions of this Law are in compliance with the legal acts of the European Union referred to in the Annex to this Law.
Article 2. Main Definition of the Law
1. “Design” means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation.
2. “Product” means any industrial or handicraft item, including parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, get-up, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, but excluding computer programs.
3. “Complex product” means a product which is composed of components which can be replaced permitting disassembly and reassembly of the product (collections of items, composition).
4. “Person” means a natural or legal person.
5. “Application” means a package of documents to be presented to the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as the “State Patent Bureau”) according to the procedure prescribed by this Law by the applicant in order to have his design registered.
6. “Designer” means a natural person (author) who has created a design.
7. “Applicant” means a person or a group of persons in whose name the application for the registration of a design is filed.
8. “Patent attorney” means a natural person whose name appears on the Register of Patent Attorneys of the Republic of Lithuania according to the procedure established in the Patent Attorney Statute approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
9. “Design holder” means the holder of a design registered in the Republic of Lithuania in the manner laid down by this Law.
10. “Licence” means consent of the design holder (licenser) to another person (licensee) to use a registered design under the terms of a licensing contract.
11. “Sublicense” means the licensee‟s consent to another person to use a design under the terms of a sublicensing contract.
12. “International exhibition” means an international exhibition which is official or officially recognised according to the Convention relating to International Exhibitions, adopted in Paris on 22 November 1928, as last revised on 30 November 1972.
13. “International registration of designs” means registration of a design in the International Register of the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (hereinafter referred to as „‟the International Bureau‟‟) under the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (hereinafter referred to as the „‟Geneva Act”), adopted at Geneva on 2 July 1999.
14. „‟International application‟‟ means an application for international registration filed in compliance with the requirements of the Geneva Act and Common Regulations Under the 1999 Act, the 1960 Act and the 1934 Act of the Hague Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the „‟Hague Agreement”) in accordance with the procedure laid down by these legal acts.
15. “Paris Convention” means the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 20 March 1883 (with all effective supplements and amendments).
16. “Locarno Classification” means the international classification for industrial designs under the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs of 8 October 1968 (with all effective supplements and amendments).
17. “Regulations” means Regulations for the Registration of Designs approved by the Director of the State Patent Bureau.
18. “Community design” means a design in respect of which registration is applied for or which is registered pursuant to the Regulation on Community designs.
19. “Regulation on Community designs” means Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs.
Article 3. Scope of Application
1. This Law shall apply to every design for which registration is sought in the application filed at the State Patent Bureau or which is registered in the manner prescribed by this Law.
2. A design which is the subject of international registration of the design, in effect in the Republic of Lithuania, shall be protected under the Geneva Act.
CHAPTER II. PROTECTION OF THE DESIGN
Article 4. Protection Requirements
1. The legal protection shall be granted to the design registered in the Design Register of the Republic of Lithuania, unless otherwise provided for in international treaties.
2. A design shall be registered and protected in the manner prescribed by this Law to the extent that it is new and has individual character.
3. A design registered under this Law shall also be eligible for protection under the law of copyright, provided it is fixed in any objective form.
Article 5. Novelty
1. A design shall be considered new if no identical design has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority.
2. Designs shall be deemed to be identical if their features differ only in immaterial details.
1. A design shall be considered to have individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any design which has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application for registration or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority.
2. In assessing individual character, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing the design shall be taken into consideration.
Article 7. Novelty and Individual Character of Component Parts of a Product
1. A design of a component part of a complex product shall only be considered to be new and to have individual character:
1) if the component part, once it has been incorporated into the complex product, remains visible during normal use of the latter, and
2) to the extent that those visible features of the component part fulfil in themselves the requirements as to novelty and individual character.
2. Normal use within the meaning of subparagraph 1 of paragraph 1 shall mean use by the end user, excluding maintenance, servicing or repair work.
1. A design shall be deemed to have been made available to the public if:
1) following registration it has been published in the Official Bulletin of the State Patent Bureau or any other publication, or exhibited;
2) it has been used in trade or otherwise disclosed.
2. The design for which protection is claimed shall not be deemed to have been made available to the public:
1) if under the circumstances specified in paragraph 1 of this Article it has not become known in the normal course of business to the circles specialised in the sector concerned, operating within the European Community, before the date of filing of the application or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority;
2) if it has been disclosed to a third person under explicit or implicit conditions of confidentiality.
3. The design for which protection is claimed shall not be deemed to have been made available to the public, if information relating to it has been disseminated during the 12-month period preceding the date of filing of the application or, when priority is claimed, the date of priority and if information has been disseminated:
1) by the designer, his successor in title, or a any other person as a result of information provided or action taken by the designer or his successor in title;
2) as a consequence of an abuse of the rights of the designer or his successor in title by the actions of another person.
Article 9. Grounds for Refusal of Registration of a Design or Invalidation of its Registration
A design shall be refused registration, or, if the design has been registered, the registration shall be declared invalid:
1) if the appearance of a product may not be regarded as a design within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Article 2 of this Law;
2) if a design, its use or making available to the public is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality;
3) if a design incorporates the official or traditional (abbreviated) State name of the Republic of Lithuania, armorial bearings, flag or other State heraldic objects, or any mark imitating them, also warranty signs and hallmarks, stamps, decorations or badges of awards, unless the authorization for their use in a design has been issued according to the established procedure by an institution authorised by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania;
4) if a design incorporates armorial bearings, flags or other official emblems of other states or international organisations the use of which has not been authorised by the competent authorities of such states or international organisations pursuant to Article 6ter of the Paris Convention.
Article 10. Other Grounds for Invalidation of Registration of a Design
1. The registration of a design shall be declared invalid:
1) if it does not fulfil the requirements of Article 4 to 8 of this Law;
2) if the design is registered in the name of a person who is not entitled to it;
3) the design is identical with a prior design which is registered or applied for registration and which has been made available to the public after the date of filing of the application or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority;
4) if a component of the design is a prior design which is registered or applied for registration;
5) a trade mark, a name of a legal person the proprietor of which is another person, is incorporated in the design without the consent of such person;
6) if the design constitutes the use of a work protected under the copyright law without the authorization of the author or his successor in title;
7) if the features of appearance of a product are solely dictated by its technical function;
8) if the features of appearance of a product are solely dictated by the necessity to reproduce the product in the exact form and dimensions in order to permit the product in which the design is
incorporated or to which it is applied to be mechanically connected to or placed in, around or against another product so that the product so produced may perform its function.
2. For the purposes of subparagraphs 3 and 4 of paragraph 1 of this Article, a “prior design” shall mean:
1) a design the date of filing of application for registration in the Republic of Lithuania of which is prior to the date of filing of application for registration of the design specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, taking account, where appropriate, of the priorities granted or claimed in respect of that design;
2) a design the date of registration of which under the Geneva Act in respect of the Republic of Lithuania is earlier than the date of filing of application for registration of the design specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, or, if priority is claimed, earlier than the date of priority;
3) a Community design the date of filing of the application for which under the Regulation on Community designs is prior to the date of filing of the application for a design referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority.
3. The provisions of subparagraph 8 of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply, if a design subsists in a design serving the purpose of allowing the multiple assembly or connection of mutually interchangeable products.
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW
Article 6. Individual Character
Article 8. Disclosure