- Design Protection Act 12.3.1971/221 (Unofficial translation)(Amendments up to 2002/1215 included)
- Chapter I - General Provisions
- Chapter II - The Application for Registration and Processing Thereof
- Chapter III - Period of Validity of Registration of a Design and Amendment of a Registered Design
- Chapter IV - Assignments, Licenses, Compulsory Licenses
- Chapter V - Termination of Right to a Design
- Chapter V - A Community Design
- Chapter VI - Obligation to Provide Information
- Chapter VII - Responsibility and Obligation to Provide Compensation
- Chapter VIII - Rules Concerning Legal Proceedings
- Chapter IX - Special Provisions
Design Protection Act 12.3.1971/221 (Unofficial translation)
(Amendments up to 2002/1215 included)
Chapter I
General Provisions
Section 1
Anyone who has created a design or his or her successor in title may through registration obtain the exclusive right to the design (the right to a design) in accordance with this Act.
Section 1 a
In this Act:
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 or materials of the product itself or its ornamentation;
2) ‘product’ means any industrial or handicraft item, including parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, and packaging, get-up, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces;
3) ‘complex product’ means a product which is composed of multiple components which can be replaced permitting disassembly and re-assembly of the product.
Computer programs are not considered to be products within the meaning of subsection 1(2) above.
Section 2
A design shall be protected by a design right if it is new and has individual character.
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 for registration or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority.
Designs shall be deemed to be identical if their features differ only in immaterial details.
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 before the date of filing of the application for registration or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority. In assessing individual character, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing the design shall be taken into consideration.
The design of 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 remains visible during normal use of the product; and
2) if the visible features of the component part fulfil in themselves the requirements as to novelty and individual character.
“Normal use’ within the meaning of subsection 4(1) above shall not include maintenance, servicing or repair work.
Section 3
A design shall be deemed to have been made available to the public:
1) if it has been published in the registration procedure or otherwise; or
2) if it has been exhibited or used in trade or it has otherwise become known.
A design has not, however, become available to the public if the events referred to in subsection 1 could not reasonably have become known in the normal course of business to the circles specialized in the sector concerned, operating within the European Union, before the date of filing of the application for registration or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority.
The design shall not, however, be deemed to have become available to the public for the sole reason that it has been disclosed to a third person under conditions of confidentiality.
Section 3 a
A design shall not be deemed to have become available to the public in the manner referred to in Section 2 if the design for which protection is claimed has during the 12-month period before the date of filing the registration application or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority, been made available to the public:
1) by the designer or a third person as a result of information provided or action taken by the designer; or
2) as a consequence of an abuse in relation to the designer.
The provisions of subsection 1 relating to the creator of a design shall also apply to his successor in title.
Section 4
A design shall not be registered:
1) if it is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality; or
2) if it is identical with a prior design 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 and which is protected from a date prior to the said date by a design registered for Finland or by an application for such right.
Section 4 a
A design shall not be registered, if it without the proper permission includes:
1) the coat of arms, flag or other emblem or the designation or abbreviation of the designation of a state, municipality or an international intergovernmental organization, or a figure, designation or abbreviation of a designation that may be confused with such emblem, sign, designation or abbreviation of a designation;
2) an official mark or stamp of inspection or guarantee for the same or similar articles as those for which the design is intended;
3) anything that may be understood to be another person’s trade name or a trade symbol or trademark established for another in Finland or the surname, pseudonym or similar name or the portrait of another, unless the name or portrait manifestly refers to a person long since deceased;
4) anything that may be interpreted as the title of another person's protected literary or artistic work, provided such title is distinctive, or anything which infringes another's copyright to such a work or his right to a photographic illustration;
5) anything that does not substantially differ from a design or utility model registered in Finland in the name of another person;
Section 4 b
A design right shall not subsist in features of appearance of a product
1) which are solely dictated by its technical function; or
2) which must be reproduced in their exact form and dimensions in order to permit the product in which the design is incorporated to be mechanically connected to or placed in, around or against another product so that either product may perform its function.
Notwithstanding subsection 1(2), a design right shall subsist in a design serving the purpose of allowing multiple assembly or connection of mutually interchangeable products within a modular system.
Section 5
The scope of the protection conferred by a design shall include any design which does not produce on the informed user a different overall impression. In assessing the scope of protection, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing his design shall be taken into consideration.
Section 5 a
Subject to the exceptions stated below, the right to a design shall imply that no person other than the owner of the design right is entitled to use the design without his consent. The uses shall cover, among other things, the making, offering, putting on the market, using, importing, exporting or stocking for these purposes of a product which matches the design or in which the design is incorporated.
Section 5 b
The rights conferred by a design right do not cover:
1) private use of the design for non-commercial purposes;
2) use of the design for experimental purposes; nor
3) acts of reproduction for the purposes of making citations or of teaching, provided that such acts are compatible with fair trade practice and do not unduly prejudice the normal exploitation of the design, and that mention is made of the source.
Neither do the rights conferred by a design right cover the equipment on ships and aircraft registered in another country when these temporarily enter into the country, the importation into the country of spare parts and accessories for the purpose of repairing such craft, nor the execution of repairs on such craft.
Section 5 c
A design right does not give its holder the right to deny the use of a product protected by the design right if the product has been put on the market within the European Economic Area by the owner of the design right or with his consent.
Section 6
Any person who, at the time the application for registration is made, has in the course of trade been using a design in this country, may notwithstanding another's right to the design continue such use while retaining its general character, provided that such use did not entail a manifest abuse with respect to the applicant for registration or to his predecessor in title. Under similar conditions, any person who has taken substantial steps to use the design in the course of trade in this country shall have the same right of use.