- I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
- II. PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS
- REQUIREMENTS FOR PROTECTIONArticle 3
- NOVELTY OF DESIGNArticle 4
- INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER OF DESIGNArticle 5
- DISCLOSURE OF DESIGNArticle 6
- DESIGNS DICTATED BY THEIR TECHNICAL FUNCTION AND DESIGNS OF INTERCONNECTIONSArticle 7
- DESIGNS CONTRARY TO PUBLIC INTERESTS OR ACCEPTED PRINCIPLES OF MORALITYArticle 8
- GROUNDS FOR REFUSAL OF PROTECTIONOR FOR INVALIDITYArticle 9
- III: RIGHT TO PROTECTION
- IV. ACQUISITION, SCOPE AND TERM OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROTECTION
- V. EXCLUSIVE RIGHTSCONFERRED BY THEINDUSTRIAL DESIGN
- VI. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHERFORMS OF PROTECTION
- VII. INDUSTRIAL DESIGN REGISTRATION PROCEDURE
- THE OFFICE AUTHORITYArticle 23
- INITIATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN REGISTRATION PROCEDUREArticle 24
- CONTENTS OF AN INDUSTRIALDESIGN APPLICATIONArticle 25
- MULTIPLE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN APPLICATIONArticle 26
- DIVISION OF A MULTIPLE APPLICATIONArticle 27
- PRIORITYArticle 28
- UNION PRIORITY RIGHTArticle 29
- EXHIBITION PRIORITY RIGHTArticle 30
- ACCORDANCE OF THE FILING DATE OF AN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN APPLICATIONArticle 31
- FORMAL EXAMINATION OF THEINDUSTRIAL DESIGN APPLICATIONWITH AN ACCORDED DATE OF FILINGArticle 32
- DECISION ON REFUSAL OF THE REGISTRATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL DESIGNArticle 33
- DECISION ON THE REGISTRATIONOF AN INDUSTRIAL DESIGNArticle 34
- INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PUBLICATIONArticle 35
- DEFERMENT OF PUBLICATION OFAN INDUSTRIAL DESIGNArticle 36
- INDUSTRIAL DESIGN CERTIFICATEArticle 37
- VIII. CHANGES MADE TO AN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
- IX. CEASING OF EFFECT AND INVALIDATION OF ANINDUSTRIAL DESIGN
- X. COMMON PROVISIONS ON THE PROCEDURE BEFORE THE OFFICE
- XI. INTERNATIONAL DEPOSIT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
- XII. CIVIL PROTECTION
- XIII. MISDEMEANOUR PROVISIONS
- XIV. TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
- THE ACT AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN ACT*
- Article 1
- Article 2
- Article 3
- Article 4
- Article 5
- Article 6
- Article 7
- Article 8
- Article 9
- Article 10
- Article 11
- Article 44b
- Article 44c
- Article 44d
- Article 44e
- Article 44f
- Article 44g
- Article 12
- Article 13
- Article 14
- Article 15
- Article 16
- Article 17
- Article 52a
- Article 52b
- Article 52c
- Article 52d
- Article 18
- Article 19
- Article 20
- Article 21
- Article 22
- Article 56a
- Article 56b
- Article 56c
- Article 56d
- Article 56e
- Article 56f
- Article 56g
- Article 23
- Article 24
- Article 25
- Article 26
- Article 27
- Article 28
- Article 29
- THE ACT ON AMENDMENTS TO THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN ACT**
- ACT ON AMENDMENTS TO THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN ACT***
NN 173/2003, in force from January 1, 2004
*NN 76/2007, in force from July 31, 2007
**NN 30/2009, in force from March 17, 2009
***NN 49/2011, in force from May 7, 2011
Zagreb July, 2011
Industrial
Design Act
And
THE ACT ON AMENDENTS
TO THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN ACT*/**/***
I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE ACT
Article 1
This Act provides the requirements for the protection of a design, regulates the right to protection, the acquisition of the industrial design, the scope and term of industrial design protection, exclusive rights conferred by the industrial design, the industrial design registration procedure, the changes relating to industrial designs, the termination and invalidation of industrial designs, international deposit of industrial designs, civil protection and misdemeanour provisions.
DEFINITIONS
Article 2
For the purposes of this Act:
1. “Design” means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from its features, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation,
“Product” means any industrial or handicraft item, including, inter alia, parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, get-up of books, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, but excluding computer programs,
“Complex product” means a product which is composed of multiple components which can be replaced permitting disassembly and re-assembly of the product.
II. PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS
REQUIREMENTS FOR PROTECTION
Article 3
(1) A design shall be protected by an industrial design to the extent that it is new and has individual character.
(2) A design applied to or incorporated in a product which constitutes 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,
2. To the extent that those visible features of the component part fulfil in themselves the requirements as to novelty and individual character.
(3) “Normal use” within the meaning of paragraph (2) item 1 of this Article shall mean use by the end user, excluding maintenance, servicing or repair work.
NOVELTY OF DESIGN
Article 4
(1) A design shall be considered to be new if no identical design has been made available to the public prior to the date of filing of the application for registration of the industrial design (hereinafter referred to as: industrial design application) or, if a priority is claimed, the date of granted priority.
(2) Designs shall be deemed to be identical if their features differ only in immaterial details.
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER OF DESIGN
Article 5
(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 prior to the date of filing the industrial design application or, if priority is claimed, the date of granted priority.
(2) In assessing individual character, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing the design shall be taken into consideration.
DISCLOSURE OF DESIGN
Article 6
(1) A design shall be deemed to have been made available to the public if it has been published following registration or otherwise, or exhibited or used in trade or otherwise disclosed, except where these events could not reasonably have become known in the normal course of business to the circles specialised in the sector concerned, operating within the Republic of Croatia, prior to the date of filing of the industrial design application or, if priority is claimed, prior to the date of granted priority. The design shall not be deemed to have been made available to the public for the sole reason that it has been disclosed to a third person under explicit or implicit conditions of confidentiality.
(2) A disclosure shall not be taken into consideration if a design for which protection is claimed has been made available to the public:
1. By the designer, his successor in title, or a third person as a result of information provided or action taken by the designer or his successor in title,
2. During the 12-month period preceding the date of filing of the industrial design application or, if priority is claimed, the date of granted priority.
(3) The provision referred to in paragraph (2) of this Article shall also apply if the design has been made available to the public as a consequence of an abuse in relation to the designer or his successor in title.
DESIGNS DICTATED BY THEIR TECHNICAL FUNCTION AND DESIGNS OF INTERCONNECTIONS
Article 7
(1) An industrial design shall not subsist in features of appearance of a product:
1. Which are solely dictated by its technical function; or
2. Which must necessarily be reproduced in their 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 either product may perform its function.
(2) Notwithstanding the provision referred to in paragraph (1) item 2 of this Article, an industrial design shall, under the conditions set out in Articles 4 and 5 of this Act, subsist in a design serving the purpose of allowing the multiple assembly or connection of mutually interchangeable products within a modular system.
DESIGNS CONTRARY TO PUBLIC INTERESTS OR ACCEPTED PRINCIPLES OF MORALITY
Article 8
An industrial design shall not subsist in a design that is contrary to public interests or accepted principles of morality.
GROUNDS FOR REFUSAL OF PROTECTION
OR FOR INVALIDITY
Article 9
An application for registration of a design shall be refused, i.e. a registered industrial design shall be invalid if:
1. The design is not a design within the meaning of Article 2 item 1 of this Act,
2. The design does not fulfil the requirements of Articles 3 to 8 of this Act,
3. The applicant for or the holder of the industrial design is not entitled to the acquisition of the industrial design under this Act,
4. The design is in conflict with an earlier design which has been made available to the public after the date of filing of the industrial design application or, if priority is claimed, after the date of granted priority, and which is protected from a date which is earlier than the said date by an industrial design registered in the Republic of Croatia or an application for such a design,
5. A distinctive sign is used in the creation of a design, and the holder of the earlier right had the right to prohibit such use,
6. The design constitutes an unauthorised use of a work protected under the provisions of the act regulating copyright and related rights,
7. The design constitutes an improper use of any of the items listed in Article 6ter of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (hereinafter referred to as: the Paris Convention), or of badges, emblems and escutcheons other than those covered by the said Article of the Paris Convention, which are of particular interest to the Republic of Croatia.
III: RIGHT TO PROTECTION
DESIGNER
Article 10
(1) A designer is a natural person who created a design.
(2) A person who has only provided technical assistance in the creation of an industrial design shall not be deemed a designer.
MORAL RIGHT OF THE DESIGNER
Article 11
(1) Notwithstanding whether he is the applicant or the right holder, the designer shall have the right to be cited as the designer in all documents and during public exhibitions of his design.
(2) The moral right of the designer cannot be transferred.
(3) If several designers participated in the creation of the design jointly, all designers shall be entitled to the right referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article, notwithstanding their contribution in the creation of the design.
PERSONS ENTITLED TO THE ACQUISITION
OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
Article 12
(1) The designer or his successor in title is entitled to initiate the procedure and to acquire industrial design rights in accordance with this Act.
(2) If the designer is not the industrial design applicant, the applicant shall be deemed the person entitled pursuant to paragraph (1) of this Article, until proven to the contrary.
(3) If the design was created on the basis of a commission contract, the right to initiate the procedure and to acquire industrial design rights shall vest in the commissioner of the design, unless otherwise specified by contract.
(4) If the design was created by an employee in the execution of his duties or following the instructions given by his employer, the right to initiate the procedure and to acquire industrial design rights shall vest in the employer, unless otherwise specified by contract.
(5) If the design was created by the joint efforts of several designers, the right to that design shall vest in them, i.e. their successors in title, jointly, and they shall all be deemed entitled persons pursuant to paragraph (1) of this Article.
(6) The share of the designer in a jointly created design shall be determined in proportion to each of the designers' actual contribution in creating the design, unless otherwise specified by contract.
(7) If the shares of the designers are not specified or cannot be determined pursuant to paragraph (6) of this Article, they shall be deemed equal.
EQUAL STATUS OF PERSONS ENTITLED TO HOLD INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
Article 13
Foreign legal and natural persons not having a principle place of business, i.e. a domicile or a habitual residence on the territory of the Republic of Croatia shall enjoy protection provided for by this Act, if it results from international treaties binding the Republic of Croatia or from the application of the principle of reciprocity.
IV. ACQUISITION, SCOPE AND TERM OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROTECTION
ACQUISITION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Article 14
(1) An industrial design shall be acquired by the decision on registration of an industrial design and by its entry in the register.
(2) The date of entry in the register shall be the same as the date of the decision on granting the registration of an industrial design.
SCOPE OF PROTECTION
Article 15
(1) The scope of the protection conferred by an industrial design shall include any design that does not produce a different overall impression on the informed user.
(2) In assessing the scope of protection, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing his design shall be taken into consideration.
TERM OF PROTECTION
Article 16
(1) Industrial design protection shall last for a period of 5 years as from the date of filing of the industrial design application.