Design registration

There was a slight increase in the number of design applications filed at the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) in 2017 compared with the previous year. This applies to both the number of applications direct to NIPO and applications through the Hague Agreement.

Two ways to register a design in Norway:

File an application for registration of a design directly to NIPO. Most Norwegian applicants submit design applications in this way.
Private individuals and enterprises connected to one one of the member states party to the Hague Agreement can apply for design registration in the other member states. More than half the design applications made to NIPO are such designations via the Hague Agreement.

The total number of design rights in Norway consists of a combination of these. A design registration applies for five years and can then be renewed for up to four new five-year periods. A design application and design registration may contain more than one design.

Designs: figures for period 2014-2017

	2014	2015	2016	2017
Design applications total	1219	1213	1229	1253
- direct to NIPO from Norwegian applicants	302	250	240	242
- direct to NIPO from foreign applicants	217	183	158	165
- international designations in Norway via Hague Agreement from Norwegian applicants	33	34	31	36
- international designations in Norway via Hague Agreement from foreign applicants	667	746	801	810
Decisions in design applications	1284	1148	1344	1078
- registered designs	1219	1089	1278	1041
- refused	0	0	0	0
- finally shelved or withdrawn	65	59	66	37
Number of designs	3900	3765	3923	4488
Renewals	628	818	964	967
Total number of registered designs in effect	8402	8978	9543	9828

There has, however, been a weak decline since the turn of the millennium with regard to design applications from Norwegian applicants. A design application may contain more than one design, and it is therefore also relevant to count the number of designs. This number increased in comparison with 2016.

Unlike patent and trademark applications, NIPO does not examine design applications unless the applicant explicitly requests that this be done. Most design applications are consequently approved soon after submission. Applicants themselves are responsible for not infringing the rights of others. They may, however, ask NIPO to make such an assessment, but this happens in less than 5% of applications.

175 fewer applications were decided in 2017 than were received that year.

Processing time for designs

The target is for applicants for registration of designs at NIPO to receive decisions on their applications within 2-3 months. The target was achieved in 2017.

In 2017, we decided an average of 525 applications per full-time equivalent employee. This means the applications were registered, denied registration, finally shelved or withdrawn by the applicant. The figures show that we were slightly less efficient in 2017, and we will take a closer look at the reasons why this is so.