Priority procedure

A design right under the Finnish national law is effective only in Finland. If protection is desired also in other countries, a separate application under each country's national law has to be filed in those countries. However, design protection in all EU countries can be obtained by applying for a community design at OHIM. Registration of community designs started at OHIM on 1 April 2003.

For a design to be protected, it is generally required that the design is new on the date of filing the application. (There can be exceptions to this rule in some countries, such as the regulation on grace period in Finland.) An applicant filing an application abroad can claim priority from his Finnish application; otherwise the application filed in Finland would prevent him from obtaining the design right. The novelty of the design is judged by the date of filing of the Finnish application. When claiming priority, the applicant must state that the application from which priority is claimed has been filed in Finland, and in addition, mention the date of filing the application and its number. Priority claim must be stated within six months from the date of filing the application in Finland.

Priority can be claimed abroad in a country party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, or the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. Also the community design system recognizes priority claims.

Despite the priority procedure the period of protection is calculated separately in each country involved.

Correspondingly, priority can be claimed in Finland by those applicants who have filed their first application in some other contracting state than Finland or who have filed an application for a community design at OHIM or an application for an international registration at WIPO. The novelty of the design is judged by the date of filing of the first application, but the registration period starts from the day that the application was filed in Finland.