ROMINVENT - Industrial Protection Agency

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS AND CONVENTIONS
to which Romania is party:
- Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
- Hague Agreement of the international registration of designs
- Locarno Agreement of the International Classification of Industrial Design
- TRIP's Agreement

NATIONAL LAW
- Industrial Designs Law no. 129/1992 amended by Law no. 585/2002

NATIONAL TREATMENT
Any natural persons or legal persons having their domicile or registered office outside the territory of Romania shall enjoy the benefits of the provisions of Romanian law in accordance with the international treaties to which Romania is party or on basis of reciprocity of protection with the countries whose nationals they are.

PRIORITY
Conventional priority or exhibition priority may be claimed. In order to be recognized, the application shall be filed with State Office for Invention and Trademarks within six-months from the date of the earliest priority or within six months from the date on which the article was put on display at the exhibition. The priority documents must be filed within three months of the date on which the application was filed.

OBJECT OF THE APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION
The object of the application for registration may be any industrial design defined as new appearance of a product (presented in 2 or 3 dimensions) resulting from the combination of the main features, particularly lines, outlines, colors, shape, texture and/or materials and/or ornamentation per se which is new and has an individual character.

MULTIPLE FILING – condition of unity
The multiple filing shall be that filing which includes up to 100 industrial designs which are intended to be incorporated into the same category of products in compliance with the international classification of the industrial design.

The industrial design which is the subject of a multiple deposit shall meet the condition of unity of design, unity of production and unity of use and it shall belong to the same set or compositions of items.

PUBLICATION
The application for the registration of the industrial design and the reproduction, photography or any graphic representation thereof shall be published within six month of the date on which the regular deposit was made.

Also, at the request of the applicant, the publication may be postponed for a period that shall not exceed twelve months from the date on which the application was filed or from the date of priority, if priority has been claimed.

OPPOSITION
The interested person maz introduce opposition with State Office for Inventions and Trademarks within 3 months from the publication of the application.

EXAMINATION
After the application for registration of the industrial design has been published, the examination board makes the decision of acceptance or rejection of the registration, within 12 months from the publication of the application.

CHALLENGE WAYS OF THE DECISIONS
Decisions concerning the applications for the registration of industrial designs may be contested, through administrative channels (Reexamination Board), in writing and on valid grounds, within three months of the notification thereof.

The decision of the Reexamination Board may be appealed against before the Municipal Court of Bucharest within 3 months of the notification.

DURATION OF THE PROTECTION
The term of validity of a certificate of registration of an industrial design shall be 10 years starting on the date on which a regular deposit was constituted and may be renewed for 3 successive five-year periods of time.

EXCLUSIVE RIGHT OF THE OWNER
The certificate of registration of the industrial designs confers on its owner the exclusive right of exploitation and the right to prohibit third party from performing at least the one of following acts without his consent: reproducing, manufacturing, marketing or offering for sale, using, importing or storing for the purpose of selling offering for sale or use of the industrial design of the article in which it is incorporated.

TRANSFER OF THE RIGHT
The right to the grant of a certificate of registration of an industrial design, the rights deriving from the application for registration of an industrial design and also the rights deriving from the certificate of registration granted shall be transferable, either wholly or in part: by assignment, by licenses or by succession.

Transfers shall be binding on third parties as from the date on which they are published in the Romanian Official Bulletin.

CANCELLATION OF REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE
A certificate of registration of an industrial design may be cancelled either wholly or in part, at the request of interested parties, where it is established that the conditions of protection were not met on the date of registration of the application.