The Parliament Approved the Amendments to the Law of Georgia “On Design” for the Third Reading

The Parliament of Georgia approved for the third reading the Draft Law of Georgia “On Making Amendments to the Law of Georgia “On Design”, prepared with the authorship of the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia – “Sakpatenti”. The Draft Law is aimed at refinement of mechanisms for legal protection of design in Georgia and full approximation with the legislation of the European Union.

The amendments will regulate issues related to publication of a design, grounds for refusal of a design registration, its re-examination, as well as filing of an international application through Sakpatenti, the right to a designer’s name,  invalidation of a design registration, the possibility of maintenance of a design registration in a modified form and the retroactive effect of invalidation of a design registration.

The new Law simplifies processes and ensures functioning of a single transparent system for a design registration, examination and protection. Namely, the mechanism of re-examination is introduced, which represents an alternative to lengthy court proceedings and will give an opportunity to interested parties of faster hearing of design invalidation issues at Sakpatenti. In addition, the authority of Sakpatenti Chamber of  Appeals is enhanced, which will increase the effectiveness of administrative disputes; in particular, the grounds for refusal of a registration will be defined, which will ensure legal clarity and harmonization of  the legislation with the EU standards.

Along with this, the new Law offers interested persons a new service of preliminary search, which will allow them to apply to Sakpatenti and request information whether an identical design of one or another design is protected in Georgia.

The Draft Law was prepared within the joint project of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia – “Sakpatenti” – EUGIPP.

Design protection is one of the key tools of intellectual property, which promotes innovations, fair competition and economic development. In the digital age, when the visual identity of a product is a significant competitive advantage, existence of an effective legal framework is necessary, which will protect the creative work of designers. 

Development of design, as an important IP subject-matter, is aimed at full-fledged use of creative resources and their transformation into the economic potential. Institutional and legal refinement of this field not only strengthens creative industries, but also forms a favourable environment for attraction of investment and encouragement of innovative activity. Accordingly, the given amendments are considered as a significant stage in the process of development of the intellectual property ecosystem of Georgia – a step which leads to harmonization of the legislative framework of the country with the modern standards of the European Union and facilitates formation of knowledge-based economy and increasing of international competitiveness.