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.

Re-register those Serbian designs -- in Montenegro

Class 99 has learned that, on 22 December 2010, the Montenegrin Parliament adopted a new Law on the Protection of Industrial Design, which came into force on 8 January 2011. The law prescribes re-registration of designs registered with the Serbian Intellectual Property Office (IPO) before 28 May 2008 -- the opening date of the Montenegrin IPO. The final deadline to request re-registration is 8 January 2012.

This rule does NOT apply to design rights owners who have already filed requests for design renewal, recordal of changes or the Certificate of Registration with the Montenegro IPO.

The designs must be renewed every five years, with a maximum of 25 years of protection. In accordance with the old law, the renewal fees are, after the first five years of protection, paid annually. The new law also provides the possibility to appeal decisions of the Montenegrin IPO before the competent [in one sense of the word, for sure; let's hope it's in two!] ministry. Cancellation of a registered design must be sought before the competent court, in contrast with proceedings before the IPO as prescribed by the previous law.

Source: PETOŠEVIĆ