Changes to Patent Regulations and Utility Model Regulations from 1 February 2013

The National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR) has made its Patent Regulations and Utility Model Regulations shorter and clearer. The following changes were made:

• Provisions already given in the act and decree were deleted.
• Instructions for NBPR patent examiners were moved to the ‘Patenttikäsikirja’ patents manual, and to the patent examiners’ work instructions.
• Linguistic changes were made.
• Sections were re-numbered.
• The Patent Regulations and Utility Model Regulations were harmonised.
• Special orders concerning biological material in Chapter 6 in the Patent Regulations were moved to Chapter 2 in the regulations.
• Special orders concerning electronic filing were included as Annex 1 to the Utility Model Regulations.
  

The new Patent and Utility Model Regulations enter into force on 1 February 2013, and the regulations in Finnish and in Swedish will be published on the NBPR website on that date. The Patent Regulations in English will be published as soon as possible. The Utility Model Regulations will only be published in Finnish and in Swedish.

For more information, please contact
Ms Marjo Aalto-Setälä
Deputy Head of Division
Tel. +358 9 6939 5485
Email: marjo.aalto-setala(at)prh.fi