Secrecy and confidentiality
Transparency and openness are important principles that enable society to have trust in public administration. This is important both for the legal certainty of the individual and to enable democratic control of the exercise of authority by public administration. There are nevertheless some exceptions to this that provide the right to secrecy at the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO).
General information about duty of confidentiality
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) has a duty of confidentiality in relation to applications and documents in matters that are not publicly available. You can also request that information about business secrets are kept secret to the public in accordance to certain rules, and the duty of confidentiality will apply if NIPO decides that this information can be exempted.
Duty of confidentiality in oral communication
From time to time you will be able to have verbal contact with NIPO, for example through a telephone conversation or a meeting with us. NIPO has a statutory duty of confidentiality regarding business secrets or private matters that we become aware of in a meeting with you.
We write down certain information
NIPO is obliged to record information of value that we received orally in connection with the processing of specific applications. Whether such information is confidential or not depends on what kind of information it is and whether the application to which the information relates is generally available or not.
Patent application
An application for a patent and the correspondence in the case become publicly available 18 months after the day the application was submitted to NIPO, alternatively sooner if you request it.
International patent applications that have been forwarded in Norway become available to the public 18 months from the priority date.
If you withdraw the application before it becomes generally available, it will not be made public, in other words it will remain secret.
If there are special reasons, you can also request that certain business secrets are not avaiable to the public.
For patent applications relating to inventions of importantance to the defence, there are special rules on secrecy. Special rules apply to the submission, processing and communication of these applications.
Design application
Bibliographic information and documents that cannot reveal the appearance of the design become available to the public already from the day of application. Bibliographic information is, for example, information about the applicant's and designer's name and address, as well as the product description.
Documents that show the appearance of the design (image of the design) are automatically kept secret for up to six months, unless you request that the entire application is made publicly available already upon submission.
When the design is registered, these documents will become publicly available, even if this happens before six months have passed since the application was submitted.
This applies, for example, to information about the applicant and designer's name and address, as well as the product description.
It is possible to postpone the registration for up to six months from the application date or the priority date, or to specify a specific date within this period.
If registration has not taken place within six months from the application date or the priority date, the application will automatically become available to the public.
Information about business secrets can be exempted from public disclosure if the applicant requires it. The applicant must notify us of this at the same time as you submit the document.
Whether documents can be kept secret is regulated in accordance with Section 21, subsection four of the Design Act.
Trademark application
An application for trademark registration and all documents in the case are publicly available already from the day the application is submitted to NIPO. This means that everyone can see that a trademark has been applied for. This includes reproduction of the trademark itself, information about who is the applicant and what goods or services the trademark has been applied for.
Certain information about business secrets can be exempted from public disclosure in accordance with the rules in Section 25, subsection two of the Trademarks Act.
Business secrets within the meaning of the law
It is not decisive what you yourself think are business secrets since not all information is considered business secrets within the meaning of the law. Information that is of importance as to whether a mark can be registered or for the extent of its protection cannot be exempted from public disclosure. Everyone must be able to access such information to ensure that a valid right is not infringed. Access to such information may also be necessary in order to assess claims for invalidity or deletion. This means that, in practice, it takes some doing in order to exempt information and documentation in trademark cases from public access.
What can't be kept secret?
For example, it cannot be kept secret that a trademark has been applied for. Nor can the reproduction of the trademark, information about who is the applicant or what kind of goods or services have been applied for, be kept confidential. Nor can one exempt a priority claim from public disclosure. Documentation for establishment of use submitted to substantiate that a trademark can be registered, for example information on turnover figures, cannot, as a general rule, be exempted from public disclosure either.
What has been said here about exemptions from public disclosure for information about trade secrets in trademark applications also applies in opposition cases and administrative review.
The parties to the case and their representatives can have access
The fact that information about business secrets is exempt from public disclosure does not in principle prevent the parties to the case or their representatives from being made aware of the information.
If the demand for confidentiality is clearly unfounded, the information can be given without further ado to a person who requests access to the case.
- declarations of consent with reference to a cooperation agreement on a planned sales promotion
- establishment of use documentation that contains information that reveals details of the applicant's marketing strategy
- customer lists and mailing lists can also be exempted depending on the circumstances
- other information about business secrets that is not relevant to the assessment of the application can normally also be exempted
If the demand for confidentiality is clearly unfounded, the information can be given without further ado to a person who requests access to the case.
More about trade secrets
Preliminary examination
All preliminary examinations are carried out in accordance with the statutory duty of confidentiality. If you order a preliminary examination, in other words, you are guaranteed full confidentiality.
Access to NIPO's case documents
You can search for NIPO's case documents yourself in our search service. It is noted what kind of document you find in the patent, trademark and design register.
You can also contact us if you would like to see a document.
Information about personal matters
The NIPO has a duty of confidentiality regarding information about someone's personal circumstances, such as information about individuals' physical and mental health, character and emotional life, religious or political views, financial circumstances, etc.
Such information will naturally not be available in the NIPO's search service.
The NIPO's internal working document
The NIPO's internal working documents in specific cases are generally not generally available.
If there is no real and factual need to refuse access, one will still be able to access such internal documents by virtue of the principle of greater public access in Section 11 of the Public Service Act.
Do you have questions about duty of confidentiality and public access?
Contact our Customer Service Center on 22 38 73 00.