Japón

Finlandia

Dibujos y modelos industriales

1. Since it is not clearly stipulated in the Design Protection Act that textile designs are protected in conformity with the TRIPS Agreement, please explain under which provision of the Act or other copyright related law these designs are protected. Moreover, to make sure that the opportunity to seek and obtain protection for textile designs is not impaired unreasonably, please explain your system or practice particularly with regard to cost, examination or publication (cf. paragraph 2 of Article 25 of the TRIPS Agreement).

In Finland industrial designs are, as a general rule, protected by registration according to the Registered Designs Act (No. 221/71, as subsequently amended). The protection of the design may also be based on the Copyright Act, provided that the work fulfills a certain level of originality, or by the Trademarks Act, provided that the work can be distinguished from those of others (see answer to US question 1 above). Other possible forms of protection in certain situations are utility model law (novelty, inventive step, clear distinctiveness), patent law (novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability, clear distinctiveness) and rules on unfair competition. These forms of protection are not mutually exclusive. There are no particular provisions concerning textile designs in the Finnish Registered Designs Act. The same rules that are applied to other designs, apply also to the protection of textile designs. The average period for the examination of an application for registration of a design is ten months. Concerning the fees collected by the registration authority, as an example may be presented that for the first five years the basic registration fee is FIM 780, which, added by the publication fee (2 x FIM 180), means FIM 228 a year.