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INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS LAW
(Law No. 129 of December 29,
1992)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sections
Chapter I : General
Provisions
1 to 7
Chapter II : Requirements for
the protection of industrial
Designs 8 to 11
Chapter III : Registration and
Grant of the Title of
Protection 12 to 28
Chapter IV : Rights and
Obligations
29 to 38
Chapter V : Responsibilities
of the State Office for Inventions
and Trademarks in the Field
of Industrial Design
Protection 39 and 40
Chapter VI : Liabilities and
Sanctions 41 to
43
Chapter I
General Provisions
1. The rights in industrial designs
shall be recognized and protected by
the grant of
a title of protection by the
State Office for Inventions and Trademarks,
under the
conditions of this Law.
2. The title of protection shall
be the certificate of registration of the
industrial
design, which shall confer on
its owner an exclusive right of exploitation
on the
territory of Romania.
3. The right to be granted a
certificate of registration shall belong to
the creator of
the industrial design or to
his successor in title.
Where the owner is not the same
person as the creator, the latter shall be
entitled
to the grant of a duplicate
certificate of registration.
4. Where two or more persons
have made the same industrial design
independently of each other,
the right to be granted the certificate shall
belong to
the one who first files the
registration application with the State Office
for Inventions
and Trademarks or, where priority
has been recognized, to the person whose
application has the earliest
priority date.
5. Where the creator is an employee
and there is no contractual provision
more
favorable to him, the right
to the grant of the certificate of registration
of the
industrial design shall belong:
a) to the employer in the case
of industrial designs made by the employee
either
under a contract of employment
that provides for the performance of
creative
activities, where such activities
correspond to his actual duties, or while
carrying
out a research activity expressly
entrusted to him;
b) to the employee in the case
of industrial designs made by him either in
the
course of his duties or within
the area of concern of the employer, through
knowledge or use of technology
or means specific to the employer or
information
available on the premises of
the employer; under these conditions, the
employer
shall have a preferential right
to conclude a contract of assignment or of
non-exclusive licensing, which
right shall be exercised within three months
of the
date of the employee's offer;
in the absence of agreement between the
parties on
the contract price, the latter
shall be established by judicial decision
according to
the initial contribution of
each of the parties and to the industrial and
commercial
utility of the industrial design;
c) to the employee in the case
of all other industrial designs.
In the cases provided for in
the first paragraph, under (a) and (b), the
employee-creator and the employer
shall be under the obligation to inform
each
other in writing of the stage
of development of the industrial design and
to abstain
from any disclosure that is
likely to prejudice, wholly or in part, the
exercise of the
rights conferred by the law.
Failure to observe the obligation
to inform shall result in the liability
of the person
responsible, as provided for
in civil law.
If, in the case provided for
in the first paragraph, under (a), the
employer has not
filed the application within
60 days of the employee's having informed the
employer
of the creation of the industrial
design, the right to file the application
and to be
granted a certificate, in the
absence of any other agreement between the
creator
and the employer, shall belong
to the employee as provided in the first
paragraph
under b).
6. Natural or legal persons having
their domicile or registered office
outside the
territory of Romania shall enjoy
the benefits of the provisions of this Law
in
accordance with the international
treaties to which Romania is party or on
the basis
of reciprocity of protection
with the countries whose nationals they are.
7. The protection secured through
this Law shall not exclude the benefit of
protection conferred through
copyright.
Chapter II
Requirements for the Protection
of Industrial Designs
8. The new appearance of a product
having a utilitarian function may be
registered
as an industrial design.
9. An industrial design shall
be regarded as new if it was not made
available to the
public, at home or abroad, in
respect of the same category of products,
prior to the
date of the regular deposit
of the application or the recognized priority
date.
An industrial design shall be
regarded as industrially applicable if the
article to
which the design is applied
may be reproduced whenever necessary.
Disclosure of the industrial
design shall not be taken into account if it
was effected
by the creator or his successor
in title and occurred within the 12 months
preceding
the date on which the application
was registered.
10. The industrial design whose
appearance is determined by a technical
function
shall not be registered even
if it is new.
11. Industrial designs whose
purpose and appearance are contrary to
morality or
public policy shall be excluded
from protection.
Chapter III
Registration and Grant of the
Title of Protection
12. The application for the registration
of the industrial design,
comprising the
personal particulars of the
applicant and of the creator and a statement of
the
article or articles in which
the industrial design is intended to be
incorporated,
accompanied by a brief description
of the characteristic elements of the
industrial
design, with all written matter
in Romanian, and 10 graphic
representations, shall
be deposited with the State
Office for Inventions and Trademarks, either in
person
or through an agent whose domicile
or registered office is in Romania, and
shall
constitute the regular national
deposit.
The application for registration
may also comprise a request for deferred
publication.
13. The date of regular national
deposit shall be that by which the
documents
referred to in Section 12 have
been received by the State Office for
Inventions and
Trademarks and shall be entered
in the National Register of Industrial
Design
Applications.
14. In procedures before the
State Office for Inventions and Trademarks the
applicant for a certificate of
registration or his successor in title may
avail himself of
the assistance of an authorized
industrial property attorney.
15. A multiple deposit may include
several industrial designs intended to
be
incorporated in articles included
in the same class of the International
Design
Classification.
16. The regular national deposit
secures a right of priority to the
applicant, starting
on the date of the deposit,
in relation to any deposit of the same
industrial design
effected at a later date.
17. Romanian natural or legal
persons and those of States party to the
conventions
to which Romania is also party
shall have a six-month right of priority
starting on the
date of first deposit if they
apply for protection in respect of the same
industrial
design within that six-month
period of time.
18. Priority may also be claimed
as a consequence of the industrial design
having
been displayed at an international
exhibition, provided that the
application is filed
within six months of the date
on which the article was put on display at
the
exhibition.
This period shall not extend
the period of priority provided for in Section
17.
19. Priority as provided for
in Sections 17 and 18 shall be recognized if
claimed at
the time the application is
filed, and if attested by priority documents
within three
months of the date on which
the application was filed.
20. The application for the registration
of the industrial design and the
reproduction, photograph or
any graphic representation thereof shall be
published
in the Official Bulletin of
Industrial Property of the State Office for
Inventions and
Trademarks, within six months
of the date on which the regular deposit was
made,
in black and white or, upon
request, in color.
The publication referred to in
the above paragraph may, at the request of
the
applicant, be deferred for a
period that shall not exceed 12 months from
the date
on which the application was
filed or from the date of priority, if
priority has been
claimed.
21. Interested parties may contest,
in writing, the registration of the
industrial
design at the State Office for
Inventions and Trademarks within three
months of its
publication.
22. Applications for the registration
of industrial designs shall be
considered by the
specialized division of the
State Office for Inventions and Trademarks. The
decision to accept or to reject
an application shall be taken by a Board
within six
months of the publication of
the application.
Registration of industrial designs
shall be made in the National Register
of
Industrial Designs and published
in the Official Bulletin of Industrial
Property of the
State Office for Inventions
and Trademarks.
23. For failure to comply with
the conditions laid down in Section 8, the
State Office
for Inventions and Trademarks
may revoke its decisions ex officio until
such time
as the decisions are made public.
24. Decisions regarding applications
for the registration of industrial
designs may
be opposed, through administrative
channels, in writing and on valid
grounds, at
the State Office for Inventions
and Trademarks, within three months of
notification
thereof.
Oppositions shall be considered
within three months of registration thereof
by the
Reexamination Board of the State
Office for Inventions and Trademarks,
which
shall be composed of persons
other than those who composed the Board
provided
for in the first paragraph of
Section 22.
25. The decision of the Reexamination
Board shall be notified to the
parties within
15 days of pronouncement, and
may be appealed against before the Municipal
Court of Bucharest within three
months of such notification.
The decisions of the Reexamination
Board and the judicial decisions, which
shall
be final, shall be published
in the Official Bulletin of Industrial
Property of the State
Office for Inventions and Trademarks.
26. All decisions issued by the
State Office for Inventions and Trademarks
shall be
substantiated.
27. The issue of certificates
of registration of industrial designs by the
State Office
for Inventions and Trademarks
shall be made on the basis of the final
decisions of
acceptance within 30 days of
the date on which the acceptance decision
became
final.
28. The registration proceedings
of the industrial designs provided for by
this Law
shall be the subject to the
payment of fees as laid down in Annexes 1 and
2.
The fees shall be paid into the
account of the State Office for Inventions
and
Trademarks in the amounts and
within time limits laid down in Annexes 1 and
2
and shall constitute proceeds
to be deposited into the State budget.
Fees payable by foreign natural
and legal persons having their domicile or,
as the
case may be, their registered
offices abroad shall be paid in convertible
currency
and are laid down in Annex 2.
Creators, applicants or owners
of the certificate of registration of an
industrial
design having a gross annual
income of less than 1,000,000 lei shall pay
10% of
the amount of the fees laid
down in the Annexes.
Failure to pay the fees within
the time limits laid down in the Annexes
shall result in
non-carrying out the proceedings,
in refusal to recognize priority and, as
the case
may be, in the forfeiture of
the rights of the owner of the certificate of
registration of
the industrial design.
A 30% share of the annual revenue
obtained may be used by the State Office
for
Inventions and Trademarks for
the exclusive purpose of purchasing the
computerization apparatus and
equipment necessary in order to fulfill the
responsibilities which are incumbent
on it under Section 40 of this Law.
Chapter IV
Rights and Obligations
29. The certificate of registration
of an industrial design confers on its
owner the
right to prohibit third parties
from performing at least the following acts
without his
consent: reproducing, manufacturing,marketing
or offering for sale, using,
importing or storing for the
purpose of marketing, offering for sale or use
of the
industrial design or the article
in which it is incorporated.
30. In the case of an application
for registration published under Section
20, the
natural or legal entity person
to the grant of the certificate shall
temporarily enjoy the
same rights as are conferred
on the owner under the provisions of Sections
2 and
29, starting on the date on
which the regular deposit was made and until
the grant
of the certificate of registration.
Any infringement of the provisions
under the first paragraph shall make the
infringers liable for damages
under civil law; the entitlement to the
payment of
damages shall be enforceable
only after the grant of the certificate of
registration of
the industrial design.
31. The term of validity of a
certificate of registration of an industrial
design shall be
five years starting on the date
on which a regular deposit was effected and
it may
be renewed for two successive
five-year periods.
Throughout the term of validity
of the certificate, the industrial design
owner shall be
required to pay the certificate
maintenance fees.
The State Office for Inventions
and Trademarks shall grant a period of
grace of six
months at the most for the payment
of maintenance fees, for which increased
fees
shall be levied.
Failure to pay such fees shall
cause the forfeiture of the certificate
owner's rights.
The forfeiture of those rights
shall be published in the Official Bulletin
of Industrial
Property of the State Office
for Inventions and Trademarks.
32. The owners of certificates
of registration of industrial designs may
apply the D
sign to the products, namely
the capital letter "D" inscribed in a circle
accompanied by the owner's name
or the serial number of the certificate.
33. The right to the grant of
a certificate of registration of an
industrial design, the
rights deriving from the application
for registration of an industrial
design and also
the rights deriving from the
granted certificate of registration shall be
transferable,
either wholly or in part.
Transfers may be effected by
assignment, by the grant of exclusive or
non-exclusive licenses or by
legal or testamentary succession.
Transfers shall be binding on
third parties as from the date on which they
are
registered at the State Office
for Inventions and Trademarks in the
National
Register of Industrial Designs
Applications or,as the case may be, the
National
Register of Industrial Designs.
34. A creator who is the owner
of the certificate of registration of an
industrial
design shall be entitled to
economic rights determined by contract
concluded with
the persons who exploit the
industrial design.
Where an assignment contract
is concluded, the economic rights accruing to
the
creator shall be determined
by such contract.
35. Industrial designs created
on the territory of Romania shall be
registered
abroad by the natural or legal
person who is entitled to the grant of the
certificate.
Registration abroad shall not
be effected until an application has been
filed at the
State Office for Inventions
and Trademarks.
For the registration abroad,
entitled natural persons or legal entities may
avail
themselves of credits in convertible
currency.
36. The creator shall have the
right to the mention of his full name and
status in the
certificate of registration
granted and in any documents or publications
concerning
the industrial design.
The data in the certificate of
registration shall be entered in his
employment record.
37. A certificate of registration
of an industrial design granted by the
State Office
for Inventions and Trademarks
shall be cancelled, either wholly or in part,
at the
request of interested parties,
where it is established that the conditions
for
protection were not met on the
date of registration of the application.
Cancellation may be requested
throughout the term of validity of the
certificate, and
shall be ruled upon by the Municipal
Court of Bucharest.
The cancellation decision shall
be registered at the State Office for
Inventions and
Trademarks and published within
two months of the date of its registration.
38. Any litigation concerning
the status of creator of the industrial
design, the status
of owner of the certificate
of registration, concerning the economic rights
arising
from assignment or licensing
contracts, or concerning failure to comply
with the
provisions of the third paragraph
of Section 5 shall be within the
jurisdiction of the
courts.
CHAPTER V
Responsibilities of the State
Office for Inventions and Trademarks in the
Field of Industrial Design Protection
39. The State Office for Inventions
and Trademarks is the specialized
government
body with sole authority on
the territory of Romania for ensuring the
protection of
industrial designs.
40. The State Office for Inventions
and Trademarks shall have the following
responsibilities in the field
of industrial design protection:
(a) provision of protection through
the grant of a certificate of
registration of the
industrial design;
(b) keeping of the National Register
of Industrial Design Applications and
of the
National Register of Industrial
Designs;
(c) provision of information,
on request on the basis of published
industrial designs;
(d) conduct of relations with
equivalent government organizations and with
specialized international organizations
of which Romania is a member;
(e) provision of assistance in
the field of industrial property on request,
organization of training courses
for specialists in the same field;
(f) periodical compilation and
publication, in the Official Bulletin of
Industrial
Property of the State Office
for Inventions and Trademarks, of information
relating
to industrial designs.
CHAPTER VI
Liabilities and Sanctions
41. The unlawful assumption,
in any way, of the status of creator of an
industrial
design shall constitute an offense
and shall be punisheded by imprisonment
of
between six months and two years
or by a fine.
42. The unlawful reproduction
of an industrial design for the purpose of
manufacturing products of an
identical appearance, the manufacture,
offering for
sale, selling, importing, using
or the storing of such products for the
purpose of
putting into circulation or
using, without having the consent of the owner
of the
certificate of registration
of the industrial design, during the term of
validity thereof,
shall constitute the offense
of counterfeiting the industrial design and
shall be
punishable by imprisonment of
between six months and two years or by a
fine.
Criminal proceedings shall be
initiated by the preliminary filing of a
complaint by
the aggrieved party.
The owner shall be entitled,
for prejudice caused to him, to damages
according to
the law.
43. Disclosure, by the staff
of the State Office for Inventions and
Trademarks and
also by persons doing work in
connection with industrial designs, of the
information
contained in the applications
for registration prior to the publication
thereof shall
constitute an offense and shall
be punishable by imprisonment of between
three
months and two years or by a
fine.
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