LIECHTENSTEIN
Industrial Designs Law
amended by the law of January 9, 1964
ENTRY INTO FORCE: February 29, 1964
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. General Provisions
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
Article 5
Article 6
Article 7
Article 8
Article 9
Article 10
Article 11
Article 12
Article 13
Article 14
2. Registration
Article 15
Article 16
Article 17
Article 17a
Article 18
Article 19
Article 20
Article 21
Article 22
Article 23
Article 23a
3. Legal Protection
Article 24
Article 25
Article 26
Article 27
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Article 28
Article 29
Article 30
Article 31
Article 32
Article 33
4. Final Provisions
Articles 34-35 [Repealed]
Article 36
Article 37
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1. General Provisions
Article 1
The Duchy of Liechtenstein awards the rights stated in this Law to the
originators of industrial designs and models, and their legal successors.
Article 2
An industrial design or model within the meaning of this Law is an external
form, also in conjunction with colours, which is intended to serve as
a standard for industrial manufacture of an object.
Article 3
Protection of designs and models does not extend to the method of their
manufacture, the intended use or technical effect of the object
manufactured in accordance with the design and model.
Article 4
The rights of the author/originator pass to his heirs and can be wholly
or partly assigned to third parties.
The author may allow other persons to use his design or model by granting
them licences.
Assignment of author’s rights and granting of licences to bona fide third
parties must be registered in the Register of Designs and Models to be
effective.
Article 5
A design or model acquires protection only if it has been registered in
accordance with the provisions of this Law.
No person is allowed to use a design or model registered in a valid and
due manner for the purpose of distribution or commercial exploitation
without the author’s or his legal successors’ permission before the end
of the period of protection.
Article 6
The fact of registration justifies the assumption of novelty in respect
of its contents and the correctness of the declared copyright.
Article 7
Designs and models can be registered individually or in blocks.
The number of designs or models registered in each block is only limited
by their size and weight; the Government shall set out details on this
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point, and on the size and weight of the individual designs or models
registered, by ordinance.
Article 8
The maximum period of protection awarded to designs and models is 15 years.
This period is calculated in five-yearly periods, the first period
commencing on the date of registration, with the subsequent periods
following without interruption.
Article 9
Designs and models can be registered in open or sealed envelopes for the
duration of the first period of protection of 5 years.
The Government can determine by ordinance that designs and models of certain
industries or of a certain type of product could also remain in sealed
envelopes throughout the second and third period of protection and that
designs and models from certain industries and of a certain type of product
are prohibited altogether from being registered in sealed envelopes and
must be published by means of an illustration.
Article 10
Fees are payable for each period of protection for each individually
registered design or model or for each batch; the fees are set by the
Government by ordinance. Their level shall rise at a steep rate from period
to period.
The fees for the first period of protection must be paid on registration
(Article 15, Para. 2), those for the second and third period are due on
their first day in each case.
Article 11
A registration of industrial designs and models lapses if the fee for
the continuation of protection is not paid within three months of the
date by which it is due.
The validity of a registration of industrial designs and models lapsed
due to the fee for extending the validity of protection not having been
paid within the required time can be restored if the fee which is due
together with the respective renewal fee prescribed for such cases is
paid within three months from the date of lapsing.
Article 12
The registration of a design or model is invalid:
1. if it is not novel at the time of registration; a design or model is
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regarded as novel in accordance with this Law if it is not known to the
public or the interested business circles;
2. when the registering party is neither the author of the design or model
nor his legal successor;
3. when, in the case of the object being deposited in a sealed envelope,
the registering party relies on contents designed to deceive;
4. when the registered object is not, by its nature, a design or model
within the meaning of this Law.
5. when the contents of the registration become entangled in contradictions
with regard to legal stipulations or State Treaties or are of an offensive
character.
Article 13
Any person who proves his interest in a case has the right to sue for
invalidation.
Article 14
Any person who has no fixed domicile in Liechtenstein may only register
a design or model and assert his rights arising from such a registration
through a representative domiciled in Liechtenstein.
The representative is authorized to provide representation in proceedings
whichtakeplaceinaccordancewiththisLawandinlegaldisputesconcerning
theprotectionofdesignsandmodels.Therighttoapplythelegalprovisions
relatingtoprofessionalrepresentationincasesoflitigationisreserved.
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2. Registration
Article 15
To register designs and models with the registration office, an application
must be drawn up in the German language, in accordance with the form.
The following must be attached to the application:
1. a sample of the design or model which is to be registered, marked with
a reference number, either in the form of the industrial product for which
it is intended or in the form of another satisfactory representation;
2. the fee for the first period of protection.
The Government can issue additional requirements in respect of those
designs and models which are published in illustrated form.
Article 16
The registration office is an intellectual property office appointed for
this purpose.
The Government may also name other registration offices for designs and
models, as required.
Article 17
Registration applications not compliant with the formalities prescribed
by Law or in regulations, and not corrected in accordance with the
requirements from the appropriate body must be rejected by the registration
office.
The registration office must reject objects submitted in open envelopes
or graphic representations which are not designs or models within the
meaning of this Law or which are entangled in contradictions with the
legal stipulations or State Treaties or are of an offensive nature.
These stipulations apply appropriately when a sealed registration is
converted into an open one.
Article 17a
An appeal against dispositions/orders issued by the Intellectual Property
Office in the matter of designs and models, in particular concerning the
rejection of a registration, can be lodged with the Government within
14 days from the date on which the order is served.
Article 18
A design and model registered in due manner shall be entered in the design
and model register by the registration office without prior examination
of its novelty or the registration party’s rights, and the registering
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office shall issue a certificate of registration for the registering party.
Article 19
The register of models and designs must contain the following details:
the subject of the registration, the type of registration (open or sealed),
name and address of the registering party and any of its representatives,
the date of registration, the payment of the registration fees and their
amount, and changes to the authorized person or to the substance of his
rights. These changes are only registered in conjunction with official
documents or documents attested to by a public notary.
Article 20
The registering party publishes, on the basis of the entries in the design
and model register, the description of the registered designs and models,
the type of registration, names and place of residence of the registering
parties and their representatives if any, the date and number of the
registrations as well as any change in the persons in the registering
parties or to the substance of their rights.
The Government specify by ordinance the type of illustration used for
publishing designs and models from certain industries or types of product
(Article 9).
Article 21
Registrations lodged in sealed envelopes shall be changed into open
registrations at any time at the request of a person authorized to make
such a request.
Sealed envelopes shall be temporarily opened only on request from an
authorized person or following a Court order.
Article 22
Any person can obtain verbal or written information on the contents of
the design and model register and can inspect open designs and models
in the presence of an official.
The Government prescribe an appropriate scale of charges for this service.
Article 23
The authorized person can renounce legal protection by withdrawing the
registered design or model.
If he does not withdraw his design or model, this design or model shall
be safeguarded by the registration office for a further three years after
the end of the period of protection.
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At the end of these three years, the registration office shall return
the design or model to the person who has title to it or to his representative
or destroy it; it can dispose of it in other ways in special cases.
Article 23a
Any person who makes an international registration of industrial designs
or models, acquires the protection of this Law in the same way as if he
were registering the designs or models in Liechtenstein. If the provisions
oftheHagueAgreementConcerningtheInternationalDeposit(Registration)
of Industrial Designs dated 6 November 1925 award the proprietor of the
international registration greater advantages than this Law does, the
said provisions take precedence over this Law in all instances.
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3. Legal Protection
Article 24
Under the rules below, the following can be prosecuted under civil and
criminal Law
1. any person who copies a registered design or model unlawfully or in
such a way that a difference between the original and the copy can only
be discovered by careful comparison; however, a mere change of colour
shall not be regarded as a difference;
2. any person who vends, offers for sale, places on the market or imports
an unlawfully copied or imitated object;
3. any person who aids and abets such acts, promotes or facilitates them;
4. any person who refuses to inform the appropriate authorities of the
origin of the copied or imitated objects in his possession.
Article 25
Any person who commits any of the acts referred to in Article 24 is liable
to pay compensation to the injured party and shall, in addition, be fined
between Fr. 15 and Fr. 2500 or sentenced to imprisonment for between one
day and six months or fined and imprisoned within the stated limits.
These fines and prison sentences can be doubled in the case of recidivism.
Article 26
Committing the offences stated in Article 24 through negligence shall
not be punished; on the other hand, the offender shall undertake to
compensate the injured party for the harm done.
Article 27
Criminal prosecution shall follow an application by the injured party
and in accordance with criminal proceedings.
The Regional Court has jurisdiction over cases concerning an accused with
a home address in Liechtenstein or when the offence has been committed
here or when a Liechtenstein design or model has been infringed.
Penal proceedings are inapplicable if more than two years have elapsed
since the last infringement.
Article 28
Courts of Law must issue any precautionary dispositions which may be
regarded necessary, depending on what type of civil or criminal action
is involved.
Forexample,theycanorderfulldescriptionstobeproducedoftheallegedly
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copied objects, the tools and the equipment exclusively used for copying
and, if necessary, have these objects confiscated.
If reasons for confiscation exist, the Court can make the plaintiff provide
security which he must deposit before confiscation.
Article 29
The Court of Law may order seizure and exploitation of the attached objects.
It can order the tools and equipment intended exclusively for imitating
to be destroyed even in the case of acquittal. The net proceeds from other
seized objects shall be used for paying the fine, the costs and the
compensation payable to the injured party; any surplus shall be returned
to the previous proprietor.
Article 30
The Court of Law can arrange for the verdict to be published at the convicted
person’s expense in the Liechtenstein Press or in one of more other papers.
Article 31
Whoever, being unauthorized, produces his business papers, advertisements
or products with a description intended to lead to the mistaken belief
that a design or model has been registered in accordance with this Law
shall be fined on official or private disclosure between Fr. 20 and Fr.
500 or imprisoned for an appropriate term.
These fines and prison sentences can be doubled in the case of recidivism.
Article 32
Money collected in fines shall be allocated to the country’s poors’ fund.
If imposing a fine does not apply, the Court must deliver a prison sentence
on account of uncollectability.
Article 33
The Provincial Court decides as first instance in matters of civil dispute
concerning the protection of designs and models.
Appeals are allowed regardless of the value of the matter in dispute and
must be addressed direct to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
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4. Final Provisions
Articles 34-35 [Repealed]
Article 36
The Government are instructed to issue the necessary decrees for
implementing this Law.
Article 37
This Law replaces the existing regulations concerning industrial designs
and models.
Those designs and models, since the registration of which two years have
not yet passed when this Law came into force enjoy, without further
formalities, legal protection for the first five-year period but including
the time which has already passed since the registration.
This Law is declared not to be urgent and comes into force on the day
of its announcement.
The Government of the Duchy are responsible for implementing it.
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