fInLAnD
Lauri Rechardt
Procope & Hornborg
IP stRAtEGY In
tHE sPotLIGHt
Th e rules on intellectual property rights in Finland were established in the Th e Market Court already handles matters related to unfair competition,
Finnish Patent, Trademark and Copyright Acts, which were initially enacted including cases dealing with alleged slavish imitation.
in the 1960s. Th e laws have been amended several times since then.
Th e Finnish Ministry of Justice has appointed a committee to prepare the
the government IP rights strategy
move of all civil IP matters to the Market Court. Th e committee will use a
report released in 2007 by a working group at the Ministry of Justice as a
Th e most signifi cant initiative in 2009 was the IP rights strategy document
starting point for the proposal.
published by the current government in March 2009. Th e government
programme set out in 2007 stated that the government should draft and Th e working group concluded at the time that trying IP rights matters in a
implement a national IP rights strategy. In March 2009, the government
centralised court would ensure the required expertise and delivery of higher-
published its strategy document, prepared by the Ministry of Employment and
quality decisions. Transferring the handling of all IP rights matters to the
the Economy in co-operation with the Ministry of Education. Th e ultimate
Market Court would also contribute to the swift and secure enforcement of
goal of the strategy is to make inroads into the national as well as international
IP rights in Finland. Th e working group further noted that it was taking up
markets by developing the Finnish IP rights system and improving the general
to three years for the Board of Appeals of the National Board of Patents and
awareness of issues related to the protection of IP rights.
Registration to issue a decision in cases dealing with appeals to registration
Th e strategy proposes to develop the functionality of the IP rights system
of rights. Moving appeals to a specialised court would increase effi ciency
in Finland in four main areas: know-how; eff ective and well-defi ned rights;
and speed.
competition policy; and the functionality of the IP rights market as well as
Th e working group proposed that the following matters be transferred to
operational and economic effi ciency within the system.
the Market Court:
transfer of IP rights matters to Market Court
• Appeals on the registration decisions by the National Board of Patents and
Th e IP rights strategy paper also includes a specifi c proposal to move all civil
Registration and applications for the nullifi cation of registration of rights
IP disputes to the Market Court by 2012. Depending on whether the dispute • Civil law disputes concerning industrial property rights, including
relates to trademark, design, patent or copyright, IP disputes are currently applications for preliminary injunctions and annulment of the registration
decided either in general district courts or in the Helsinki District Court. of industrial property rights
70 World Intellectual Property Review Digest 2009
www.worldipreview.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173