Read more about licensing
A license is permission to use an intellectual property right – for example, software, a trademark, a patent, or a design.
Report changes in an application or an intellectual property right
You must notify us of any changes to your name, address, or other matters related to your application or right. This also applies if you have taken over a patent, entered into a license agreement, or pledged a patent or a patent application.
Why must you report changes?
- The Norwegian Industrial Property Office’s name register is not linked to other public registers. Therefore, we do not automatically receive information about changes to names or addresses.
- We do not record pledges, licenses, or transfers on our own initiative. You must report these yourself.
- An incorrect address may result in letters not reaching you in time. This could cause you to lose rights because you did not respond or pay within the deadline.
- It is also an advantage to have the correct applicant or holder listed in our register if a dispute arises regarding who owns the rights.
When must you report changes?
Notify us before you pay the annual fee or renewal fee. This ensures that the renewal certificate contains the correct information.
Language requirements
You can report changes in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, or English. We mainly reply in Norwegian.
What documentation must you provide?
For certain changes, we require documentation. You will find details about this under the different types of changes.
What information must you always provide?
Always state the application number or registration number, and specify which field the change concerns (patent, trademark, or design).
Change of representative
At the application stage:
Trademarks and designs: You can report a change of representative without submitting a valid power of attorney. If a power of attorney is missing at the time of registration, we will still remove the representative and send correspondence directly to the holder.
Patents: You must submit a valid power of attorney when reporting a change of representative. All applicants registered for the right must sign the power of attorney. We do not require the original document; you may submit a copy.
After registration: You must submit a valid power of attorney when reporting a change of representative. All holders registered for the right must sign the power of attorney. We do not require the original document; you may submit a copy.
Use our power of attorney form and upload it as an attachment in Altinn when reporting a change of representative:
Note: The PDF forms cannot be completed and saved electronically.
If you experience problems opening the PDF forms, try another browser or update Adobe Acrobat.
You are not required to appoint a representative. If you do not have one, we will send all correspondence directly to you as the applicant or holder.
Lawyers may act as representatives without a power of attorney. However, if the representative is a law firm, you must still submit a power of attorney.
The power of attorney must specify which application or right it concerns, or it may be a general power of attorney covering all cases for the applicant or holder within one or more fields.
If you refer to a previously submitted general power of attorney, you must attach a copy.
If a representative wishes to transfer their role to another representative, and the power of attorney explicitly grants the right to do so, the previous representative may sign the power of attorney.
Change in ownership or merger
At the application stage: The form must be signed by the applicant or the applicant’s representative.
After registration: The form must be signed either by the previous holder or by the new holder (the party from whom or to whom the right has been transferred), or by a representative of the parties.
We register a change in ownership or merger when we receive a notification from the applicant, holder, or an appointed representative.
Others may also report such changes by sending a notification with a limited power of attorney. You must then attach at least one of the following documents:
- Limited power of attorney.
- Form for change in ownership or merger signed by the applicant or holder.
- Documentation of the change, for example an extract from the Register of Business Enterprises or Brønnøysund Register Centre.
- Copy of the assignment from the applicant or holder.
In the case of a change in ownership or merger, you must inform us who will be listed as the representative for the new applicant or holder, or whether the application or registration will continue without a representative. If the new applicant or holder has appointed a representative, you must attach a power of attorney confirming the appointment.
The representative relationship is not automatically transferred when we receive notification of a change in ownership or merger.
If a representative has been appointed in the case, the representative relationship ends when the application or right is transferred to a new applicant or holder.
If the new applicant or holder wishes to be represented by a representative, you must notify us. See the section on changing a representative.
This is in addition to either a limited power of attorney, a form signed by the applicant or holder, documentation of the change, or a copy of the assignment from the applicant or holder.
Change of name or address
At the application stage: The form must be signed by the applicant or the applicant’s representative.
After registration: The form must be signed by the holder or the holder’s representative.
We register changes of name and address when we receive a notification from the applicant, holder, or an appointed representative.
Others may also report such changes by sending a notification with a limited power of attorney. You must then attach at least one of the following documents:
- Limited power of attorney.
- Form for change of name or address signed by the applicant or holder.
- Documentation of the change, for example an extract from the Register of Business Enterprises or Brønnøysund Register Centre.
- Copy of the assignment from the applicant or holder.
When a name or address is changed, a registered representative retains their role as representative even after the change has been made.
Change of trademark or design
Change of a mark (trademark): To make a change to a trademark registration, you must specify what the change consists of and, if necessary, attach a new representation of the mark. Note that there is limited opportunity to change a trademark that has already been applied for or registered.
Partial deletion or deletion of classes (trademark): When deleting certain goods and services in a trademark registration, you must indicate which goods and services the mark should continue to cover.
If you wish to delete entire classes in a registered Norwegian trademark, you can do this yourself via “My cases” in Altinn, provided you are registered as an Altinn user and have the correspondence address linked to the case.
Change of design: To change a design, you must attach an image of the modified design. Note that there is limited opportunity to change a design that has already been applied for or registered.
Partial deletion of a joint registration (design): When deleting a joint registration of a design, you must indicate which designs the registration should continue to cover.
Use our change form and upload it as an attachment in Altinn when reporting a change for a trademark or design:
Note: The PDF forms cannot be completed and saved electronically.
If you experience problems opening the PDF forms, try another browser or update Adobe Acrobat.
Licensing
The applicant, holder, licensor, licensee, or a representative acting on behalf of any of these parties may sign and submit a notification of a license. You do not need to attach documentation for the license.
If the license agreement does not cover the entire application or right, you must specify in Norwegian which parts of the application or right the agreement covers.
Use our license form and upload it as an attachment in Altinn when reporting a license:
Note: The PDF forms cannot be completed and saved electronically.
If you have problems opening the PDF forms, try another browser or update Adobe Acrobat.
Lien
You may place a lien on patents, patent applications, patent licenses, applied and registered trademarks, and related licenses. You may not place a lien on designs.
Fee for registering a lien (licensed lien): NOK 500.
Registration of changes in ownership, licenses, and liens in the Norwegian Industrial Property Office’s register
Even if you were the first to have a patent or a registered trademark transferred to you, or to enter into a license agreement or place a lien, it is not certain that your right will have priority if a legal conflict later arises.
By “conflict,” we mean situations where competing or conflicting rights have been established. By registering in the Norwegian Industrial Property Office’s register, you are in a stronger position than if you choose not to register.
Rights can conflict in several ways. For example, a patent holder or trademark holder may grant two conflicting, exclusive licenses for the same patent or trademark. A conflict may also arise if the holder goes bankrupt, or if creditors seek to place a lien on the patent or trademark right.
If multiple parties have been granted exclusive licenses for the same patent or trademark without knowing about each other, questions may arise regarding who actually holds the license right.
If you have been granted a license for a patent or trademark from a company that later goes bankrupt, the patent or trademark will generally be included in the bankruptcy estate. If the license is not registered with us, the bankruptcy estate may disregard the license. In that case, you risk losing your right.
To avoid this, you should always report new rights promptly so that we can register them.
Main rule: “first to register”
In the event of a conflict between acquired rights, the main rule is that a right registered in the Norwegian Industrial Property Office’s register takes precedence over rights that are not registered on the same day or earlier. This applies to:
- Voluntary transfer of a patent or trademark right
- Establishment and transfer of a contractual license
- Liens as referred to in Section 4-11 of the Norwegian Mortgage Act
- Attachments and seizures
Multiple registration requests received by the Norwegian Industrial Property Office on the same day are treated equally. Attachments and seizures, however, take precedence over other rights. If multiple attachment or seizure orders are received on the same day, the oldest takes priority.
For a right established by agreement to be protected in bankruptcy, it must be registered in the Norwegian Industrial Property Office’s register no later than the day before the opening of bankruptcy proceedings.
When rights are lost as a result of the conflict rules, this is called “extinction” – you lose rights without having consented to it.
Registration in the Norwegian Industrial Property Office’s register provides legal protection, meaning protection against extinction.
The conflict rules in the Patent Act only apply to rights established on or after 1 July 2015. The conflict rules in the Trademarks Act only apply to rights established on or after 1 March 2023.
Requirement of good faith
When we receive an application to register a newer, voluntarily established right to a patent or trademark before an older right (a right established earlier), the “first to register” rule applies. The newer right will then have priority over the older right, but only if the holder of the newer right did not know, and could not reasonably have known, about the older right. This is called the requirement of good faith.
The requirement of good faith is a precondition for the main rule of “first to register” to apply.
Under the Patent Act and the Trademarks Act, the requirement of good faith for newer rights applies only to voluntarily established rights. As a general rule, it does not apply to attachments, seizures, or bankruptcy, but there may be exceptions under other provisions or agreements, such as Section 5-9 of the Norwegian Satisfaction of Claims Act.
In the event of a conflict, a voluntary transfer of a design registration or the granting of a license that has been reported for registration takes priority over a transfer or granting of a license that has not been, or is only later, reported for registration. This applies provided that the registered right holder was in good faith at the time of registration.
The rule only applies to rights established on or after 1 July 2015.
Registration can provide legal protection, meaning protection against later legal conflicts. Beyond this, registration does not grant more rights than you originally had. It is the underlying legal relationship that determines your rights. For example, if you have been granted a license to sell a patented product in Oslo, registering the license does not give you the right to sell it in the rest of the country.
The person requesting registration is responsible for ensuring that the underlying right is valid. You must provide the necessary information and/or documentation to obtain legal protection through registration.
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office normally has no obligation to examine the case and relies on the information and/or documentation provided by the submitter.
Types of rights that can obtain legal protection through registration with the Norwegian Industrial Property Office
You can register the following types of rights in the Norwegian Industrial Property Office’s register:
- Transfer of a design registration, patent or patent application, and registered trademark or trademark application.
- Transfer of a supplementary protection certificate for a medicinal product (SPC).
- Licenses in design, trademark, and patent rights.
- Liens as referred to in Section 4-11 of the Norwegian Mortgage Act, as well as transfer and sub-pledging of such liens.
- Attachments in design, trademark, and patent rights.
- Seizures in design, trademark, and patent rights.
Who can register such rights?
As a general rule, the Norwegian Industrial Property Office registers the rights mentioned above upon request from one of the parties to the contractual relationship. For attachments and seizures, only the enforcement authorities may request registration with us.
How are such rights registered?
We recommend using our forms for reporting changes in ownership, licenses, and the registration of liens.
See which rights are registered
Do you want to know who owns a trademark, or whether licenses or liens have been registered on a patent? You can search our register.
Read more about liens in intellectual property rights
You can place a lien on both patent rights and trademark rights in Norway. You can also place a lien on licenses to such rights.
Do you need professional advice?
It may be wise to seek advice from a professional advisor who can provide more detailed information, for example about the consequences of legal conflicts. Read more about advisors.