- THE LAW ON LEGAL PROTECTION OF DESIGN
- General Provisions
- I OBJECT AND TERMS OF PROTECTION
- II GENERAL PROVISIONS ON PROTECTION PROCEDURE
- III PROCEDURE FOLLOWING THE APPLICATION FOR DESIGN RIGHT REGISTRATION
- Application for Design Right Registration
- Application for Design Registration
- Design Description
- The representation
- Procedural Fees and Costs
- Date of Filing the Application
- Right of Priority
- International Right of Priority
- Exhibition Priority Right
- Modification of Depiction
- Order of Application Examinat
- Examination of the Application Orderliness
- Examination of Registration Requirements
- Decision on Refusal of Re
- Separation of Application
- Partial Refusal of Multiple Application
- Application for Design Registration to be Accepted as Application for Patent Registration or Petty Patent Registration
- Conclusion on Fee Payment for Design Right Registration
- Decision on Registration and Entering the Design Right in the Design Register
- Issuing the Design Certificate and Publication of the Registration Information
- IV CONTENT, SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE DESIGN RIGHT
- V PROTECTION OF THE DESIGN CREATED IN THE CONTEXT OF EMPLOYMENT
- VI CIRCULATION OF RIGHT
- VII CESSATION OF RIGHT
- VIII ANNULMENT OF THE DECISION ON DESIGN RIGHT RECOGNITION OR INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION
- IX CIVIL LAW PROTECTION
- X INTERIM MEASURES
- XI CONTESTING THE DESIGN RIGHT AND DISPUTES OVER AUTHORSHIP
- XII. THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW
- XIII. TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
THE LAW ON LEGAL PROTECTION OF DESIGN1
General Provisions Article 1
This Law shall govern the manner of realizing and the protection of the right with respect to the appearance of the product.
The appearance of the product shall mean the complete visual impression that the product makes on an informed consumer or user.
An informed consumer or user, for the purpose of this Law, shall be a natural person who is regularly in contact with the product concerned.
I OBJECT AND TERMS OF PROTECTION
Design Article 2
A design shall mean three-dimensional or two-dimensional appearance of the entire product or a part thereof, defined by its features, in particular the lines, contours, colors, shape, texture and materials of the product itself or its ornamentation, as well as their combination.
A product shall mean any industrial or handicraft item, including, inter alia, parts intended to be assembled into a complex product, packaging, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, but excluding computer programs.
A complex product shall mean a product which is composed of multiple components which can be replaced, and which permit disassembly and reassembly of the product.
Requirements for Design Protection Article 3
A design shall be protected by the exclusive right (design right) if it is new and has an individual character.
Novelty
Article 4
A design shall be considered new if no identical design has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application for registration, or if there is no application previously filed requesting the registration of an identical design.
1 Official Gazette of Serbia and Montenegro, No. 61, 24 December 2004. Entered into force 1 January 2005.
Designs shall be deemed to be identical if their features differ only in immaterial details.
Difference in immaterial details is present if an informed user cannot distinguish between the designs at first sight.
Individual Character Article 5
A design shall be considered to have individual character if the overall impression it produces on an informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any other design which has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application for registration or the date of the registered priority right of the contested design.
In assessing individual character of the design, the degree of freedom and objective limitations of the designer in developing the design of the particular product, resulting from technological and functional characteristics thereof, shall be taken into consideration.
Design of Component Part of Complex Product Article 6
A design applied to or incorporated in a product which constitutes a component part of a complex product shall be considered to be new and to have individual character, only if:
1) the component part incorporated in the complex product remains visible during regular use of such complex product; and 2) visible features of the component part themselves meet the requirements concerning novelty and individual character.
Regular use shall mean the use by the end user, excluding maintenance, servicing or repair work.
Disclosure Article 7
For the purposes of Articles 4 and 5 of this Law, a design shall be deemed to have been made available to the public, if it has been published, exhibited, used in trade in goods and services, or otherwise disclosed, prior to the date of filing the application for design registration, or if priority right was claimed, the date of priority, except where these events could not reasonably have become known, in the usual course of business, to the groups specialized in the sector concerned.
The design shall not be deemed to have been made available to the public for the sole reason that it has been disclosed to a third person under explicit or implicit conditions of confidentiality related to the design.
The design shall not be deemed to have been made available to the public, for the purposes of Articles 4 and 5 of this Law, if a design has been disclosed by the designer, his legal successor, or a third person as a result of an information provided or action taken by the designer, or his Paragraph 3 of this Article shall also be applicable where the design has been made available to the public as a consequence of an abuse in relation to the designer or his legal successor.
Protection Excluded Due to Technical Function Article 8
A design right shall not subsist with respect to features of appearance of a product that are solely dictated by its technical function.
A design right shall not subsist with respect to features of appearance of a product that must necessarily be reproduced in its exact form and dimensions in order to permit the product to be mechanically connected to or placed in, around or against another product, so that either product may perform its function.
Notwithstanding paragraph 2, a design right may, under the conditions set out in Articles 4 and 5 of this Law, subsist with respect to a design enabling multiple assembly or connection of mutually interchangeable products within a modular system.
Non-registrability of Design Article 9
The following may not be registered:
1) design whose publicizing or use is contrary to public order or morality;
2) design infringing copyright or industrial property right of another person;
3) design containing state or any other public coat of arms, flag or emblem, name or
abbreviated name of a country or an international organization, religious and national
symbols, as well as imitations thereof, except under the consent by the competent
authority;
4) design depicting an image of a person, except with express consent of that person.
The image of a deceased person may be registered only following the agreement by his parents, spouse and children.
The image of a historical or other deceased well-known person may be registered following the permission issued by the competent authority and the consent by his relatives up to the third degree of kinship.
Right to Design Protection Article 10
The right to the design protection shall be vested in the designer, or his legal successor, or the employer in cases defined by this Law.
Duration of Protection Article 11
The design right shall be acquired by entering into the Design Register and shall last for 25 years from the filing date of the application, provided the prescribed fees for maintaining the right are paid.
The right subsists from the date of the design application to the authority of the state union competent for intellectual property matters (hereinafter referred to as: the competent authority).
II GENERAL PROVISIONS ON PROTECTION PROCEDURE
Common provisions Article 12
Legal protection of the design shall be realized in the administrative proceedings administered by the competent authority.
The decisions of the competent authority are final in the administrative proceedings, but against such decisions a complaint may be filed to initiate the administrative dispute procedure.
Registers
Article 13
The competent authority shall maintain the Register of National Applications for Design Registration and the Register of International Applications for Design Registration (hereinafter referred to as: applications registers), and the Design Register.
The Register of International Applications for Design Registration shall be the collection of applications filed for the recognition of design protection, based on the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs and published by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
The registers referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be deemed as public books and interested parties my view them in the presence of an official.
The documents related to registered designs, except for parts that are confidential, may be viewed by an interested party only in the presence of an official.
At the written request of an interested party and following the payment of the prescribed fee, the competent authority shall issue copies of the documents and relevant certificates on the facts contained in the official records kept by the authority.
The competent authority shall make its documents and information on designs available to interested parties.
International Design Registration Article 15
The right holder to the design, or the applicant for design right registration, may file the application for international design registration, in accordance with the applicable international agreements.
The application for international registration referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, with the payment for the prescribed fee, may be filed through the competent authority.
Representation Article 16
In any proceedings before the competent authority, a foreign natural or legal person must be represented by a representative whose full time profession or activity is representation, and who is a local national or locally registered legal person.
Register of Representatives Article 17
Natural or legal persons meeting the requirements specified by the law governing patents shall be entered into the Register of Representatives, maintained by the competent authority.
III PROCEDURE FOLLOWING THE APPLICATION FOR DESIGN RIGHT REGISTRATION
Application for Design Right Registration Article 18
The proceedings for registration of the design right shall be initiated by filing the application for the design right registration (hereinafter: the application).
Essential elements of the application shall be the following:
1) request for the registration of a design; 2) description of a design; 3) two-dimensional depiction of the design (hereinafter: the depiction).
The application for the registration of a design shall contain:
1) information on the applicant;
2) information on the designer or the statement by the designer that he/she has waived the
right to be cited in the application;
3) indication whether the application is made for one or multiple designs;
4) actual name and abbreviated name of the design;
5) justification for filing of the application, if the designer is not the applicant;
6) the signature of the applicant, and
7) optionally, request for that the publication of the registered design to be deferred for
twelve months after the date of the issuing the decision on design registration (deferred
publication).
One application may contain the request for registration for one or multiple designs (up to 100) applicable to products classified in the same class of the international classification set forth by the Locarno Agreement on Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs.
Design Description Article 20
The design description should be a precise and concise description of the entire appearance of the object of protection, based on the submitted depiction, as seen at all times or at time of its regular use, and should meet other prescribed requirements.
The representation Article 21
The depiction should provide clearly visible details of the design and should meet the prescribed requirements with respect to quality and other technical conditions.
When filing the application for two-dimensional design, the two-dimensional sample (specimen) of the design the application refers to may be submitted, provided the depiction referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article is submitted to the competent authority not later that six months from the date of the filing of the application.
Procedural Fees and Costs Article 22