According to Margus Viher, the Director General of the Patent Office, the approval of the final text of the design treaty is an important milestone in the journey of industrial property protection. He stated that it simplifies the registration of designs in different countries, making the process of seeking legal protection much clearer and more transparent.
“The new system offers all designers, including small businesses and individuals, the opportunity to protect their design solutions faster, more efficiently, and more affordably. Of course, the option to protect designs at the Estonian Patent Office remains. The first step for designers, entrepreneurs, and creative professionals should always be to protect their creations, as this provides much better security against copying,” emphasized Viher.
The design law treaty creates an international framework similar to existing patent and trademark agreements. The treaty specifies what information can be requested in an application and the steps that must be followed when registering a design. It also aims to allow the protection of designs even if they have already been published and provides clearer guidelines for the registration process.
The adoption of the treaty will bring significant changes to the countries that join, offering designers more flexibility and options for protecting their work, including for smaller businesses and individuals, such as many Estonian designers. While design law has been harmonized in the European Union for some time, the new treaty will create a unified and simpler process in other countries as well.
However, no country has yet joined the treaty, including Estonia and other EU member states. Accession negotiations are only just beginning within the EU institutions, and the adoption of the treaty will not bring immediate practical changes to Estonian designers.
Estonia was represented at the conference by Patent Office advisors Liina Puu and Kadri Kroodo, as well as Ministry of Justice advisor Martin Jõgi.