WIPO Design Award to Finnish Planmed Oy – the award emphasises the importance of design protection

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations agency, has awarded its WIPO Design Award to a Finnish company for the first time ever. The company in question is Planmed Oy.

Mr Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General, and Ms Rauni Hagman, Director General of the National Board of Patents and Registration (NBPR), presented the award on Thursday 11 October 2012 at a seminar celebrating 170 years of Finnish patents at Finlandia Hall in Helsinki.

‘Finland is renowned for its design but, at the same time, design is seldom being protected,’ says Hagman, ‘the WIPO Design Award is a great opportunity to improve knowledge of intellectual property rights (IPR) in a positive manner.’

The jury praised Planmed for vigilantly protecting its design products by registering the design. Planmed develops and manufactures equipment for mammography and orthopedic imaging. Functional design and ergonomics in healthcare have been the starting point for R&D in Planmed, and their unique and protected design has been a competitive factor right from the start.

The WIPO Design Award puts the spotlight on the use of IPR – design protection, trademarks, patents, utility models and copy-right – in protecting design work and in increasing economic value, and as a competitive factor in business and corporate activities.

The NBPR also awarded an honourable mention to Mendor Oy for its excellent design expertise and wide use of IPR. Mendor Oy manufactures blood glucose meters for people with diabetes.

The WIPO Design Award Jury included representatives from Aalto University, Berggren Oy Ab, Design Forum Finland, Confederation of Finnish Industries, City of Helsinki, Ministry of Employment and the Economy, and the NBPR.

The seminar celebrating design protection and patents was organised also as part of the World Design Capital Helsinki project.

Read more about WIPO at www.wipo.org and about NBPR at www.prh.fi.

For further information, please contact:

Ms Anna Lauttamus-Kauppila
Director of Communications
National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland
firstname.lastname@prh.fi
Tel. +358 50 563 5724

Planmed Oy
Mr Vesa Mattila
Vice President
Tel. +358 20 7795 301 or +358 40 500 7219

Mendor Oy
Mr Kristian Ranta
CEO, Co-founder
Tel. +358 45 673 3313

This year, we celebrate the 170th anniversary of the first Finnish patent. Over 120,000 patents have been granted over these 170 years. Alongside the patent system, from 1992, we have maintained the utility model system, aimed at meeting the requirements of inventors looking for domestic protection of their inventions.