INDUSTRIAL DESIGN REGISTRATION PROCEDURE IN ROMANIA

How long it takes?

The industrial design registration procedure in Romania extends over approximately 15 months, counted from the date of filing the application with RO PTO, except for the applications making the object of notifications from the Office or third parties' oppositions, for which the procedure may be significantly longer.

Which are the steps?

The procedure starts with filing an application for registration with OSIM; the application may refer to one design (simple application) or to several designs (multiple application). In the latter case, the industrial designs included in the application must comply with the condition of unity (unity of conception, unity in production, or unity of use).

The first step consists of a formal examination of the application, ending in about one month from filing and resulting in the establishment of the corresponding national regular filing.

The next step consists of the publication of the industrial designs in the Official Bulletin of Industrial Property, so that, within 3 months from publication, interested third parties may exercise their legal right to oppose the registration.

Opposition proceedings

When an opposition to the registration of the published industrial designs is filed by a third party, the applicant is notified about the opposition, being granted a 3 months deadline for submitting a written reply; following the examination of the grounds developed by the opponent and the applicant, the Oppositions Board may decide either to reject the opposition and thus to resume the registration proceedings, or to admit the opposition and therefore to reject the application.

When no opposition is filed up to the end of the 3 months time period from publication, the application is further submitted to the full examination, ending in about 12 months from the date of publication.

What is the purpose?

When the full examination establishes that the designs comply with the legal requirements for registration, OSIM allows their registration and issues the corresponding notice of allowance, granting an official deadline of one month from communication to pay the prescribed official fees for the issue of the registration certificate and keeping the registration in force.

When the application does not fulfill the legal requirements for registration, OSIM rejects the application and issues the corresponding final decision of rejection, while the applicant may lodge an appeal against such a final decision within 3 months from communication.

Appeal proceedings

Any administrative final decision adopted by OSIM with respect to the partial registration or the rejection of a design application may be appealed by the applicant within 3 months from it's communication; following the examination of the appeal, the Board of Appeals within OSIM may decide either to maintain, totally or partially, the final decision, or to revoke the said decision. The appeal proceedings consist of two steps: lodging the written appeal and sustaining the arguments before the Board of Appeals.

What is the role of Intellexis within the entire proceedings?

Based on the mandate granted by our clients, we ensure their representation before the Romanian PTO within the above described procedure. We draft the documentation and file the application with RO PTO, providing assistance before filing, as well as along the entire procedure. We draft and file competent replies to the notifications issued by the Office or oppositions filed by third parties; we draft, lodge and sustain appeals against final decisions issued by the Office, we apply for the recordal of changes in the National Registry, etc. In short, we fulfill all the legal proceedings before the Office and provide permanent information to the client with respect to the status of the in progress proceedings.

Post-registration proceedings

Subsequently to the date of filing the application for registration of a design, its applicant or holder may no longer apply for any changes with respect to the shape, only changes which do not alter the overall features of the designs and do not affect the extent of protection that would be initially envisaged are allowed. Such changes may refer to the name and /or address of the applicant, the holder or the author, or may refer to the transfer of the rights or the renunciation to a part of the designs for which protection was claimed. Therefore, any change of the initial design application after being filed for registration must have at the most a restrictive scope.