ICELAND
IP BECOMES MORE INTERNATIONAL
Ólafur Ragnarsson Patice IP Legal
Iceland is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and a party to most major international intellectual property protection agreements, including the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Universal Copyright Convention and the Rome Convention of 1961.
T e trend towards fewer national IP applications and more international applications continued in the Icelandic IP market in 2012. T e number of applications for the validation of European patents increased more than expected and has never been higher. National patent applications decreased more than in previous years and national applications for trademarks decreased as well. T ere was a slight decrease overall in applications for trademarks and design.
Patents
T e majority of patent applications in Iceland come through the European Patent Offi ce (EPO) as national validations of European patents. In 2012, 881 European patents (EPs) were validated in Iceland, which was a 12 percent increase compared to 2011. T e number of national patent applications continued to decline, as they have done since Iceland acceded to the European Patent Convention (EPC) in 2004. In 2012, there were just 44 national patent applications, a 13.6 percent decrease from the year before.
T e majority of the applications—37—were from Icelandic applicants. T is decrease in national applications was more than in previous years, while the increase in applications for EPs was more than expected. National patents granted in 2012 were 47, fewer than in 2011. Valid patents in Iceland at the end of 2012 were 3,241. T ese comprised 666 national patents and 2,575 EPs.
Trademarks
Applications for trademark registration were 3,551 in 2012, which was a 5 percent decrease from 2011. In all, 1,274 were national registrations, and
78 World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2013
www.worldipreview.com
THE CHANGES TO THE LAW ALLOW FOREIGN AGENTS TO REPRESENT TRADEMARK OWNERS BEFORE THE AUTHORITIES, BUT THEY MUST RESIDE WITHIN THE EU, EEA OR THE FAROE ISLANDS.
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