Summary

The author reviews the Industrial Designs Protection Act which entered into force at the beginning of 1998, focusing on the basic principles of the Act and on the definitions of industrial design, designer and owner of industrial design rights. The Act defines an industrial design as a two-dimensional or three-dimensional exterior design of a product. A design shall be granted legal protection if it is novel, has distinctive characteristics and products may be made to it. Only registered industrial designs are protected by law. A designer is a natural person who as a result of his or her creative activity has created an industrial design. However, the owner of an industrial design right is a person who has been entered in a corresponding national register.
Further, the author explains the general circumstances that were relevant in the drafting of the Act. In the author’s opinion, the passed Act complies with the corresponding EC directives and Acts of the Nordic countries and Germany. Also, developments in this field in Europe were taken into consideration in the drafting of the Act.