Montenegro designs law: a little novelty

Earlier this year, Class 99 posted a short news item from Petosevic on Montenegro's new Law on the Protection of Industrial Designs. Since then, the Montenegrin Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has provided further particulars. In particular,

* The industrial design registration procedure has been simplified to achieve compliance with the relevant EU regulations. Only the formal requirements will be examined; novelty and individual character are no longer examined. The previous practice of substantive examination has been abolished, which simplifies the procedure of recognition and registration of a design. 

* The law now enables the applicant or a third party who fails to perform a required action within the prescribed timeframe to apply for the continuation of the proceedings and thereby remove all legal consequences of a missed action during the proceedings. 

* International registration is done in accordance with the Hague Agreement. The novelty is that the application for an international registration of a design is filed directly before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The fees for international registration of design are also paid directly to WIPO.

Thanks, Petosevic, for keeping us informed.