2 The Norwegian intellectual property system
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) was established in 1911 and currently has approximately 260 employees. It is the national authority for examining patent, trademark, and design protection applications, and is a national centre of competence for industrial property rights.
NIPO has two main objectives:
Examine applications for industrial property rights with appropriate quality and processing times.
Contribute toward increasing awareness concerning industrial property rights in Norway.
The first main objective is defined by statute and other regulations, and has been significantly harmonised with the rest of Europe.
It is in the interest of society that the awarding of industrial property rights is predictable, which can be achieved by assessing applications according to certain common criteria. It is also important that applications are processed quickly in order to clarify the legal standing of the relevant application.
NIPO’s second main objective is to increase awareness of industrial property rights, for example through courses, lectures, preliminary searches and assistance. The duty to provide assistance also covers international regimes and application systems.
NIPO aims to increase awareness concerning the use of industrial property rights in the range of public policy instruments, as well as support efforts in this field.
NIPO is a partner in the Nordic Patent Institute (NPI) along with the Danish Patent and Trademark Office and the Icelandic Patent Office.
NIPO represents Norway at general assemblies, as well as a number of special committees, in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). NIPO also cooperates with WIPO to provide professional assistance to developing countries aiming to establish functional intellectual property regimes.
NIPO represents Norway in the Administrative Council, as well as in underlying committees in the European Patent Organisation (EPO).
NIPO is also involved in bilateral projects with other countries, which includes its work on prioritised examination in the patent area, as well as collaboration with the EU’s design and trademark authority (OHIM) and other European countries on the harmonisation of trademark practices.
NIPO is involved in legislative and regulatory work, and assists the ministries in negotiations in free trade agreements.
Providing assistance to applicants and public institutions, as well as being an information provider, are NIPO’s non-profit activities. Such knowledge is a public benefit and is therefore financed over the Government budget.
The policy implementation system
Innovation Norway is a public policy agency that stimulates profitable economic development throughout the country by providing financing, expertise, publicity, networking and advice, for example in connection with intellectual property rights. The efforts are primarily directed toward entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses. Innovation Norway also provides courses in intellectual property rights for its customer service advisers and provides guidance to its regional and field offices staff.
The Research Council of Norway is the Government’s most important policy agency for developing the Norwegian research system and implementing research policy priorities. Their work on intellectual property rights is primarily linked to following up businesses and users which receive public funding for research and development.
The Norwegian Design Council works to increase awareness concerning the strategic use of design-driven innovation processes in order to achieve greater competitiveness and profitability in Norwegian industry and commerce. In cooperation with private centres of expertise, the Norwegian Design Council holds topical seminars on design and intellectual property rights.
SIVA (Industrial Development Corporation of Norway) administers incubation programmes to fund the development of new business opportunities at innovative companies. A key part of the incubation work is to assist entrepreneurs secure and develop their intellectual property rights through patents, licences or other relevant schemes.
Commercial service providers
Norway has a well-functioning range of private counselling and services for businesses and inventors. There is no requirement to e.g. use patent experts in connection with preparing applications to the NIPO, but as this can be both complicated and labour-intensive, many applicants choose to engage patent agents.
Larger businesses normally use their own experts to handle many of the services provided by patent experts. The Norwegian patent expert sector therefore plays an important role for individuals and smaller businesses.
Norwegian membership in the European Patent Organisation sets substantial requirements for those who are to represent a patent applicant vis-à-vis the EPO. The rules and patent offices of a number of countries, including the EPO, require authorisation in order to exercise the role of patent agent. To ensure that the industry can compete in Europe, the NIPO has trained and authorised experienced patent agents in Norway.
Dispute resolution agency and courts of law
Anyone who claims that an intellectual property right has been awarded on an incorrect basis, can request an administrative review of the decision from NIPO. A complaint can be lodged with NIPO if a registered business name is confused with or otherwise infringes upon another businesses name, protected personal names or trademarks.
Appeals of NIPO’s decisions have so far been considered by NIPO’s own appellate body. This has now been revised through a new statute under which an independent appeals board, the Norwegian Board of Appeal for Industrial Property Rights, has been established.
The Board of Appeal’s decisions can be brought before the courts, with the exception of when a right is granted or a demand for administrative review is rejected.
Rejected applications for industrial property rights in Norway can be brought before the Oslo District Court though decisions rejecting objections may not be brought before the courts. In such instances, the validity of the actual intellectual property right must be brought before the court and will be a matter between the rights holder and plaintiff.
The Mediation Board for Employee Inventions hears disagreements between employers and employees concerning the Employee Invention Act relating to the right to inventions and potential compensation. The Board is administered by NIPO.
The Cable Television Dispute Board (Kabeltvistnemnda) resolves disputes concerning compensation for rebroadcasting pursuant to the Copyright Act. The Board also provides mediation between licensees, broadcasters and owners of cable television networks.
The Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee handles disputes concerning the right to domain names and appeals of decisions made by Norid (registry for Norwegian domain names). If someone has registered a domain name to which others believe they are entitled, they may bring the case before the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. The Committee can then decide that the domain name must be transferred, or that it be deleted.
Commercialisation offices at research institutions
In order to promote commercialisation of research results from universities, university colleges and health institutions, the Employee Invention Act was amended in 2003 to allow universities and university colleges to transfer the rights to commercialise research results from their research employees. The institutions’ responsibility to communicate research results was also clarified in the 2002 amendment of the Act relating to universities and university colleges. The objective is to increase value creation by commercialising research results – regardless of whether the rights to the research results are held by researchers, institutions or businesses.
The amendments have increased awareness concerning intellectual property rights in research communities, as well as provide more systematic administration of intellectual property rights at Norwegian universities, university colleges and health institutions. The amendments have resulted in the establishment of Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs), at a number of institutions.
The challenge for the institutions is to strike a balance between publication and transparency, and the need to secure the rights to exploit the results commercially.
International cooperation
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was established in 1970 and consists of 182 member countries. That same year a number of countries also adopted a new international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Today, the PCT has 146 member countries. Norway is a member of both WIPO and PCT.
Norway is a signatory to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Both conventions are currently administered by WIPO. Norway acceded to the Paris Convention in 1885 and the Berne Convention in 1886.
In 1996, Norway acceded to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, and acceded to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs in 2010.
Through EFTA, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are signatories to numerous free trade agreements. Norway also enters into bilateral free trade agreements, which supplement the obligations of Norway and its partner countries vis-à-vis the WTO. Norway also has bilateral science and technology agreements with e.g. Japan, China, Russia and the US.
Norway and the EU’s joint systems
The EEA Agreement provide Norway with access to the EU’s internal market.
The EU’s Trade Marks Directive, the European Designs Directive and the Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions (the Patents Directive) are included in the EEA Agreement and have been incorporated into Norwegian law.
The EU has established systems that make it possible to register trademarks and designs for all member countries. The registrations are not valid in Norway, but Norwegian businesses can register intellectual property rights in EU countries through these systems, the same way as businesses in member states.
Norway is a signatory of the European Patent Convention (EPC) covering 38 states.
A Community trade mark or Community design is valid in all member states, but the EEA countries are not covered by this system. The patent regimes at the EU level differ from the trademark and design regimes in that Norway is a member of the European Patent Organisation, and in that a patent awarded by EPO for Europe is also valid in Norway.
The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) examines applications for Community trade marks and Community designs, and is responsible for the EU’s Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.