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Design and Law Legal Counsel IPR Maria Rehbinder •  maria.rehbinder@aalto.fi •  http://copyright.aalto.fi •  In Finnish, Swedish and English •  Video available in Finnish ( soon in English) •  Model agreements

Legal Protection of Design

•  Several ways to protect design as intellectual property  •  Simultaneous and during the lifespan of the product  •  Design Right protected as an unregistered right in the

EU, can be registered nationally, in the EU and internationally  

•  Trademark protection can protect the appearance of a product  

•  Copyright for design that is original above work threshold http://copyright.aalto.fi  

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The Trade Marks and Designs Registeration Office of the European Union http://www.handsoffmydesign.com

Trademark

The purpose of a trademark is to distinguish products of one trader from another in the market

Registration gives the exclusive right to use mark as a symbol for goods or services

Registration requires that the trademark is distinctive   For example the form of Maglite was not distinctive enough to be protected as trademark (  EU  Court  of  Jus,ce  11.10.2004  )  , the form of a Coca-Cola bottle is distinctive enough

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Trademark  • Word  or  a  figure  ,slogan,  le=ers,  graphic  design,  or  combina,on  of  these  

•  The  form  of  a  package  for  example  the  Coca-­‐Cola  bo=le,tune,  for  example  the  Nokia  Tune  

•  A  certain,  by  number  specified  shade  of  colour  to  a  certain  product  class,  for  example  Fazer  blue  colour  to  chocolate  

Trademark

The Apple mark can be registered as a distinctive mark in class 9 that includes computers, but could not be

registered for class 29 that includes preserved , frozen , dried and cooked fruit

International Classification of Goods and Services Nice Agreement 45 classes, Goods 1-34, Services 35-45

For basic registration fee 3 classes http://wipo.int/classifications/nivilo/nice/index.htmlCTM-ONLINE Trade mark consultation service

http://oami.europa.eu

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 Oy  Karl  Fazer  Ab  Class  30:  Chocolate  Pantone  280  C    

Trademark

You can use the R mark only for registered marks

You can use TM for all marks , unregistered marks, used as a trademark

An unregistered trademark can also be established nationally by long and succesfull use, only protected

nationally, harder to defend than a registered trademark

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Trademark

Can be registered nationally, for example in Finland Registration fee in Finland 215 euro/3 classes

Can be registered with one application to whole EU Registration fee for EU 900 euro online

International registration under Madrid Agreement, requires first EU or national registration. If EU registration is the first registeration, then the international registration is done with OHIM. If national registration is the first registration,

then the international registration is done with PRH

www.oami.europa.eu www.prh.fi

Trademark

Protection starts from the date of registration

Unlimited time as long as renewal fee is paid every 10 years

Other IPR have limited term, a trademark is forever !

In order to remain distinctive a trademark has to be defended against unauthorised use

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Trademark  registra,on  

•   Fiskars  Oyj  •  Class  8.    •  Rek.nro  231754  

Design Right

Design right protects new design against copying Registration of a design right provides an exclusive

right to use the design Others may not use the design without the consent

of the design right owner Design right requires that design is new and has

individual character Individual character means that the overall

impression of the design differs sufficiently from the overall impression of design already made

available to the public

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Design right

Individual character is assessed in the group of products Design right does not mean to give exclusive right to simple or commonplace designs or basic geometrical forms such as a

square If you apply for a design right to be registered in Finland, the

NBPR, National Board of Patents and Registration will inspect your application, and the design is not registered if it is not new

and individual OHIM is the European Union agency responsible for registering trade marks and designs that are valid in all 27 countries of the

EU If you apply for EU Design right registration there is no

inspection, but claims againts your registration can be made later

The Trade Marks and Designs Registeration Office of the European Union http://www.handsoffmydesign.com

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Design Right

When a design right is registered, the registration is valid for five years from the filing date and can be renewed for

four further periods of five years, 25 years max EU registration+ publication fee for one design is 350

euros Application fee for registration in Finland is 185 euro

In the application a Locarno class indicated The registered designs are available in National and

OHIM databases

Design Right

In the EU a grace period of 12 months from making available to the public

If registered within the grace period, it is still considered new in OHIM and EU

NOTICE absolute requirement of new in other countries for example in Asia, so if you want to register in Japan, do not publish design before

registration Consider to register first, even before showing the

design to possible business partners Publication of a registered design can be deferred

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International Registration

•  WIPO World Intellectual Property Organisation http://www.wipo.int/hague/en/forms.html  

Unregistered Design

In  EU  also  unregistered  designs  are  protected  for  three  years  

It  is  easier  to  defend  a  registered  design  

In  order    to  lisence  or  sell  a  design  it  may  be    be=er  to  register  it  

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Registered Community Design RCD

•  To register online you need max 7 digital pictures of the product, credit card and file the form online

•  The pictures must contain only the product, good to have different angles

•  Photos or drawings •  Assistance in filing

•  http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/forms/electronic/fileApplicationRCD.en.do

Copyright

Protects works that are original, products of creativity, artistic or literary works

A work has to be fixed to a certain form Idea, information, subject matter not

protected Protection of form, not the idea or information contained in the form

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Supreme Court (KKO 1988:82) : Krystyna Rudzinsky original work of art, above work treshold

Copyright  and  Design  

Design  gets  copyright  above  the  work  threshold,  treshold  varies  in  different  

countries  

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Copyright

•  In Germany traditionally ”museum test” if a work is fit for a Design Museum collection , it gets copyright protection

•  In Sweden design threshold very low •  In Finland work treshold has been high for design,

recently protection gained more easily •  www.minedu.fi

Supreme  Court    9.4.2009  Sweden  

Maglite lamp (above) was original, design above work treshold , IKEA (below) infringed

copyright

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 Supreme  Court  9.4.2009  

•   "E24  -­‐  Konsumentvaror"    

•  Lika  som  bär:  MagLites  ficklampa  överst  och  Ikeas  version  under.    

•  Ikea  förlorar  mot  Maglite    

Copyright cases in Finland •  Design should be primarily protected by Design Right

according to the drafting principles of Finnish Copyright Act, therefore work threshold has been high in Supreme Justice cases KKO 1932 II 267 KKO 1975 II 25 , KKO 1948 II 464 ja KKO 1976 48 cases dealing with furniture and lamp design.

•  Ministry of Education Copyright Council has made decisions that follow the Scandinavian trend of allowing copyright protection more easily Folding Chair TN 1995:7; Lamp FYR TN 1997:4, Furniture TN 2004:4.

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Copyright cases in Finland

Ministry of Education Copyright Council decisions

   TN 2010:10 1976 The Aalto-vase designed by Alvar Aalto and Aino Marsio is protected by copyright

TN 2006:9 furniture design classics by for example Eero Aarnio pastilli chair were protected by copyright.

Copyright protection for design classics is important because these designs have economic value beyond the maximum period of 25 years provided by

design right. TN 2007:7. Ergonomic berry picking device was not above work threshold.

Work  treshold  already  too  low  ?  

•  In  Sweden  copyright  protec,on  for  clothing  (Skinnjacka)  

•  Stocholms  Tingsrä=  2.12.2009  T  16022-­‐06  

•  Nordisk  Immaterial  Rä=skydd,  Häee  4/2010  Jimmy  Skogström:  Modebranschens  behov  av  adekvat  design  skydd  

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Copyright  and  Design  

Design  gets  copyright  above  the  work  threshold,  treshold  varies  in  different  

countries  

Copyright

Protec,on  is  provided  by  law  as  soon  as  the  work  is  original  enough  to  rise  above  the  

treshold  of  originality  No  registra,on  is  needed  

The  Berne  Conven,on  prohibits  registra,on  as  a  requirement  for  protec,on  

Copyright  can  be  registered  in  the    USA  and  China  

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Copyright

Protec,on  starts  from  the  moment  of  crea,on  and  last  the  life,me  of  the  author  plus  70  years  from  the  

year  the  author  died  

Gives  a  longer  protec,on  period  than  Registered  Design  Right,  therefore  important  for  design  classics  

If  there  are  several  authors  protec,on  from  the  year  the  last  surviving  author    died  

Can  be  sold,  lisenced,  is  passed  on  as  inheritance  

Copyright

Copyright  consist  of  two  economic  rights  and  two  moral  rights    

Economic  rights  are  the  right  to  make  copies  and  the  right  to  make  available  to  the  public  

Moral  rights  are  the  paternity  right  and  the  right  to  respect:  the  name  of  the  author  has  to  be  men,oned,  the  work  must  not  be  alterered  

without  permission  from  the  author    

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Exceptions to economic rights

In  USA  and  UK  fair  use  is  possible  without  prior  consent  from  the  author  or  payment  

In  EU  there  are  excep,on  rules  defined    in  the  Infosoc  Direc,ve  and  Copyright  Act  

For  example  if  you  wish  to  use  pictures  to  illuminate  a  scien,fic  work  you  can  do  so  without  consent  of  author  or  payment  

Name  of  the  author  and  the  source  have  to  be  men,oned  

Commercial  users  such  as  publishers  oeen    demand  that  only  cleared  material  be  used    

Responsibility  for    illegally  using  the  works  of  others  severe  

C and TM

The Copyright mark C can be used by all authors

Use the circled C then the year of publication and the name of the author, or the company holding the

copyright C 2011 Derek Designer

TM for unregistered trademarks can be used by all who offer goods or services

Derek Design TM

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Intellectual Property Agreement

•  Intellectual Property can be transferred only with an agreement  

•  The rights transferred should be clearly defined  •  Also in employment contracts IPR transfer should be

clearly defined  •  Finland does not have an work for hire clause in

Copyright Act  

Agreement

•  The right transferred can be an exclusive right – author can no longer use his/her work

•  or a non-exclusive right – possibility to grant rights to several users

•  or sole right- author can still use the work but cannot transfer right to a third party saa yhä itse käyttää teosta mutta ei voi luovuttaa kolmannelle  

•  According to Copyright Act the right to alter and the right to further transfer to third parties must be specifically mentioned in the agreement

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Agreement

•  Agreement can be made electronically for example by clicking I accept the Terms of the Contract

•  A valid agreement if the person accepting has had the chance to view the terms

•  Also possible to make agreements by e-mail and defining the transferred rights in the invoice – by paying the invoice client accepts the terms

•  Offer + Acceptance = Agreement  

Assistance  

maria.rehbinder@aalto.fi