Questions and answers about intellectual property rights

An intellectual work is protected by copyright. This is the right to literary and artistic intellectual works, for example a piece of music, a book, a painting, applied art, a film etc.

The Ministry of Culture is the specialist ministry for copyright. There are also a number of copyright organizations that can be contacted.

Copyright (or copyright) is the right to literary and artistic intellectual works, for example a piece of music, a book, a painting, applied art or a film.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is a collective term for, among other things, patent, trademark and design rights, utility models, the right to company names, author and artist rights, photographic rights and the right to circuit patterns for integrated circuits.

It gives the holder the exclusive right to exploit their intellectual property.

Intellectual property rights form an increasingly important part of the foundation for innovation and value creation. Internationalization within research, business and technology means that such rights are under greater pressure than before.

NIPO is an important actor in the work to ensure that rights and the values they represent are secured.

English: Intellectual Property Rights - IPR

Industrial legal protection provides protection primarily in the form of patent, trademark or design registration.

It gives the holder the exclusive right to exploit their invention, trademark or design. Industrial rights form an increasingly important part of the foundation for innovation and value creation. Internationalization within research, business and technology means that such rights are under greater pressure than before. NIPO is an important actor in the work to ensure that rights and the values they represent are secured.

English: Industrial Property Rights.

Also called protected designation. It is a public labeling scheme that ensures that Norwegian food treasures get the protection and recognition they need.

Many foods are the result of long traditions, high knowledge and raw materials grown under very favorable growing conditions. This helps to give the products a unique taste and characteristic.

Following the example of the EU countries, in Norway there is an opportunity to register protected designations for Norwegian agriculture-based foodstuffs, fish and fish products.

Example
It is prohibited to use geographical indications for wine and spirits that do not come from the affected geographical area. An example of this is champagne. It is not allowed to use the term "champagne" for sparkling wine, unless it is produced in the Champagne region of France.

Norwegian Food Foundation
The labeling scheme is administered by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority through Stiftelsen Norsk Mat (formerly Matmerk). The scheme provides the opportunity to protect product designations for this type of goods if they have a special geographical affiliation, tradition and distinctive qualities.

You can find more information about geographical indications and protected indications on these websites.

Business ideas, business concepts or business methods cannot initially be registered as a patent, trademark or design.

So you cannot get protection for something that is only an idea. However, it may be possible to protect certain parts of a concept or method.

Business method: how to run a business

Business idea: the general and basic idea behind the business

Business concept: individual elements that are assembled into a whole. The whole represents how business can be carried out. Examples could be franchise concepts or TV formats.

A domain name is an address on the internet. It is common to associate services such as websites or email addresses with the domain name.

A domain name is unique worldwide and corresponds to an Internet protocol address. For example: www.patentstyret.no is the domain name of the Norwegian Industrial Property Office.

Registration of usage patterns is a form of protection for inventions that are used in several countries.

It is common for this type of protection to have a lower level of inventiveness than for a patent, and for the protection period to be shorter.

Certain technology areas may also be exempt, and the fees are often lower.

Norway does not have such protection.

You can search for patents that are valid in Norway in our database.

A brief summary of the invention's most important features.

Published in our patent register when the application is generally available.

You must pay annual fees to maintain the patent application / patent.

You must pay annual fees each year. They fall due in advance, the first time two years after the application is submitted. This means that the first due date is at the beginning of the third tax year. The annual fees for the first and second tax year are paid at the same time as the fee for the third tax year. The tax year is calculated from the month the application is submitted to NIPO and the due date is set to the last day of this month.

A patent claim is a specific statement of what is sought to be protected by a patent application or a patent.

Citation is a reference to other patent applications, patents, journals or other literature. These refer to similar technology that already exists.

Such publications can be an obstacle to obtaining a patent. However, they can also be cited as a description of the state of the art, even if the nearby prior art is relatively distant from the application.

Surveillance

Citations can also be monitored if you have a patent. That way, you will be notified when someone tries to patent technology similar to your own.

SPC stands for Supplementary Protection Certificate.

This is a certificate that only applies to pharmaceuticals and plant pharmaceutical products.

Up to five years of additional patent protection can be granted - beyond the normal 20 years.

It is common to define a patent family as a collection of applications and patents that apply to the same invention worldwide.

This means that a patent family includes all documents (patent applications and patents) that have exactly the same priority, including the original priority-forming application and all subsequent applications worldwide.

Priority is then linked to the application that first mentions the invention (the first application), and ensures that subsequent applications with the same priority are granted protection back to the application date of the first application.

In the case of several priorities in the same application, the family will include documents with exactly the same combination of priorities.

An invention is patentable if all the conditions for granting a patent are met.

In order to find out whether the conditions for patenting exist, NIPO carries out a patentability assessment.

An attorney/ patent attorney is someone who is given the right to act on behalf of others.

NIPO does not require you to appoint an attorney. We will send all correspondence to you as the applicant or owner if you have not appointed a representative in the case. However, situations may arise where an attorney is desirable or necessary. 

Inventive effort when we talk about a patent is extensive testing and modification of known technology.

In order to obtain a patent for an invention, it must differ significantly from previously known technology in the area.

An average expert in the field must not find the patent-applied solution close in relation to already known technology.

For an invention to be patentable, it must be a practical solution to a problem, where the solution has a technical character, a technical effect and is reproducible.

The due date is the submission date for the application, or the day the application was submitted to the international authority (PCT).

The lifetime of the patent, up to 20 years, starts from the effective date.

When a patent application is approved, the patent is granted.

We publish granted patents in the Norwegian Patent Gazette.

Nearby technology that is described in other patent applications, patents, journals or other literature (applies worldwide) and that is highlighted as part of the proceedings.

An opposing team is used in the assessment of whether an application satisfies the requirements to obtain a patent. The term "cited publications" is used in the same way as "opposition".

Several patent claims in the same application are referred to as a set of claims.

Examination or novelty examination is used in patents. It is a thorough and comprehensive search of high quality, which aims to uncover all relevant material available before the application was submitted.

The investigation must be as complete as possible to uncover relevant prior art, so that the result provides a sufficient basis for assessing whether the invention can be patented.

A "first application" is the first application that deals with the invention. The applicant can be from Norway or abroad.

"Other applications" are applications that have been processed previously, either in Norway or abroad. The vast majority of these applications have priority from a previous application.

You will find all applications submitted to NIPO in our patent register.

Professional is an expression we use in connection with patents. Professional is a technically knowledgeable person who is an average practitioner (he or she has the general competence that can be expected) in the relevant professional field.

A granted patent can be limited by the holder after the expiry of the opposition period.

The restriction is implemented by  NIPO with effect for the remainder of the patent's validity period.

Administrative patent limitation is a cheap and simple alternative to court proceedings.

The PCT is a worldwide convention on patent cooperation that makes it easier to apply for a patent in other countries. Most industrialized countries participate in the scheme, which is a patent application procedure.

No, there is no world patent. There is no authority that can grant a patent that covers the whole world.

A patent in Norway only gives exclusive rights in Norway.

If you want a patent in several countries, you can apply in each individual country, regionally at the European Patent Office (EPO) or through the international patent application system PCT.

Similarity of goods means that two trademarks apply to the same or similar goods. If the marks relate to services, we like to call it similarity of service type.

An exception notice is information in a trademark registration that one or more elements of the mark are not covered by the protection that the registration provides. The purpose of the exemption notice is to avoid uncertainty about the scope of trademark law. If a mark is registered without an exception but still contains one or more elements that cannot be registered separately, the protection will not cover these parts of the mark.

A trademark must have distinctive features or be distinctive in order to be registered. This means that the brand must be suitable for distinguishing the company's goods or services from those of others.

You can demand that a trademark be transferred to you if you believe you have a better right to the trademark than the applicant/holder.

You must prove the right to the trademark before transfer can take place. Such a request for transfer must be made within 3 months of the announcement in the Norwegian Trademarks Gazette.

Similarity is a term used in the assessment of product type similarity.

If two brands apply to exactly the same goods, we often use the term product identity, or say that they are the same or identical goods. If the goods are similar to each other, in that they have the same purpose, are used together, are normally produced together from the same type of materials, etc., we say that there is similarity.

This is an expression that we use when a large part of the customer base will believe that two brands have the same commercial origin, for example that they come from the same manufacturer.

Registration of a trade mark for fewer goods than the original list of goods.

Degeneration occurs when a trademark becomes the very word for a good or service, and thus loses its distinguishing function.

Examples of this can be "linoleum", "gramophone" and "thermos" which were once trademarks for various products, but where the trademark eventually became the generic term.

That a trademark is descriptive means that it only conveys something about the product or service.

For example, WINTER or WARM on a jacket will be able
tell that it is suitable for use in winter. SUPER states that the goods are
of good quality, and FAMILY says something about who the products are aimed at.
Such descriptive words cannot be registered as trademarks.

Limited list of goods means that the list of goods is limited in relation to the person who submitted the application.

NIPO may suggest that you limit the list of goods if we cannot register your brand for all the goods or services. You will then be able to get the brand registered for some of them. You can also propose to limit the product list yourself in order to get the brand registered. It is not possible to expand an item list.

This is a trademark where one or more colors in themselves are sought to be registered as trademarks.

An example is the color pink for insulation material. There are strict requirements for a particular trader to be able to obtain exclusive rights to a color or color combination for a product or service.

A combined mark or figurative mark applied for in a particular color is not a color mark.

A particular sound indicating a commercial origin can be registered as a trademark.

Examples could be the sound when you switch on a computer, the sound when a program on the radio starts or the sound a mobile application makes when the user receives or sends money.

You must submit an audio file that reproduces the sound together with the trademark application. Alternatively, you can submit an exact reproduction of the sound in a musical notation.

You can register a particular smell for an item, for example the smell of beer for darts or the smell of motor oil for magazines.

This is a type of trademark where, as of today, there is doubt as to whether this falls under the term trademark and how these should possibly be reproduced graphically.

An association of traders can obtain the exclusive right for its members to use a trademark or other characteristic for its goods and/or services.

A collective mark is a common trademark

• for the use of the members of an association or association, or
• which can be used as a guarantee/control mark for an authority or association that controls goods and services.

Example: stamp on organic goods, environmental labels or common mark for use by members of sports associations.

A mark consisting of or involving a movement or a change in the position of the elements of the mark.

Could, for example, be a trademark consisting of a logo that moves, that changes colour, or where new elements are introduced over time.

In the trademark application, you must submit a video clip showing the mark. Alternatively, you can submit numbered still images showing the movement or change of position of the brand's elements.

An international agreement that makes it easier to apply for international trademark registration in several countries at the same time.

Private individuals or companies connected to one of the member states of the Madrid Protocol can apply for registration in the other member states based on a national trademark application or trademark registration, .

Norway is a member of the Madrid Protocol.

Convention priority gives an applicant the opportunity to claim protection for his trademark in other countries from the time the application was submitted in the first country. This follows from the Paris Convention.

The deadline for claiming convention priority is six months. Such a priority means that you have drawn a kind of waiting list that lasts for six months from the time the first application was submitted.

An EU trademark that is registered is valid in all countries that are members of the EU (does not apply in the EEA).

Applicants who reside in Norway and companies that have their seat in Norway can send an application for an EU trade mark (EUTM) directly to the trade mark authority EUIPO in Alicante, but it may be worthwhile to use an attorney who has the right to assist clients in the EU .

This is an examination that the applicant for a design registration can ask NIPO to carry out for a fee.

The applicant must mark in the application form that they wish this. In the course of a supplementary examination, NIPO must survey conditions that may prevent the applicant from obtaining a design right. We send a report to the applicant informing us of any findings, but we do not refuse to register on the basis of this. See § 14 of the design regulations.

Grace Period is also called news deadline. The term is used within design law.

It is possible to apply for a registered design even if the design has been made publicly known (generally available) before a design application is submitted. The deadline for submitting the design application is twelve months from when the design was first published (news deadline).

Design registration was previously called "pattern registration".

The Design Act replaces the former Pattern Act from 14 March 2003. What was called "pattern" under the old law is now called "design".

What is the difference between a pattern registration and a design registration?

The words pattern and design have been used interchangeably a lot.

The Designs Act entered into force on 1 May 2003. All design registrations that were in force on 1 May 2003 live on and have protection under the Designs Act. Perhaps the most important consequence for existing design registrations is that they can now be renewed several times, for a maximum of 25 years. (With the exception of parts that are only to be used as spare parts. There is a maximum protection of 5 years). The Design Act had a maximum protection period of 15 years.

The day the protection applies from, i.e. the day the images showing the design were first received by NIPO.

All designs are registered in a so-called Locarno class.

They are divided into classes according to the type of product they apply to. This is so that NIPO can find the designs in the register. This classification does not imply any limitation of the protection of the design.

In order to obtain exclusive rights to a design, the design must be new and have an individual character.

A design has individual character if the overall impression the design gives the informed user differs from the overall impression this user gets of other designs.

A fictional person that we use as a template to determine whether a design has individual character.

The person is well informed about which products are available on the market in the relevant product category, but the person is not an expert or professional in the area. To determine whether a design has an individual character, one asks whether an informed user will see a clear difference between the applied design and other existing designs.

Convention priority gives an applicant the opportunity to claim protection for his design in other countries from the time the application was submitted in the first country. This follows from the Paris Convention.

The scheme is particularly important for design, which must be new at the time of application. The deadline for claiming convention priority is six months. Such a priority means that a kind of waiting list has been drawn which lasts for six months from the time the first application was submitted.

EPC is an abbreviation for the European Patent Convention.

The European Patent Office (EPO) receives, processes and decides European patent applications on the basis of rules provided in the European Patent Convention (EPC).

EPO is an abbreviation for the European Patent Office.

The European Patent Office receives, processes and decides on European patent applications on the basis of rules given in the European Patent Convention (EPC).

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the leading international organization for regulating world trade.

The WTO is based on three pillars - trade in goods, trade in services and intellectual property rights.

The intellectual property rights are regulated in the TRIPS agreement (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights - 1994).

Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is one of the UN's special organisations.

WIPO's main task is to promote the development of intellectual property rights globally and is the central international organization in this area.

WIPO has 188 member states and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Trademark and design authority for the EU. The EUIPO is responsible for the administration of the EU trade mark and EU design.

They work with patent offices in EU Member States and with international partners to offer a holistic registration experience for trademarks and designs in Europe and the world.

Formerly known as OHIM.

The Nordic Patent Institute (NPI) is a collaboration between the patent authorities in Denmark, Norway and Iceland. The institute's main task is to deliver various types of services in the area of patents to other patent authorities and to private customers.

The Nordic Patent Institute has the status of a PCT authority, i.e. an international authority for news scrutiny and preparatory patentability assessment in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Convention (PCT).

The Nordic Patent Institute has a director and a deputy director who report to a board consisting of the directors of the patent authorities in Denmark, Iceland and Norway.

The Storting approved the establishment of the Nordic Patent Institute from 1 January 2008.

The application can be withdrawn by the applicant or his representative if desired.

The application cannot then be resumed.

If your application has been shelved, we can resume processing it once you have corrected the deficiency that caused the shelving. You must also pay a reinstatement fee.

The deadline for applying for re-establishment is two months. The deadline is calculated from the expiration of the original deadline that led to the application being shelved.

When we deal with an application on the merits, we assess whether it meets all the legal requirements for us to be able to register a trademark or design, or grant a patent.

A trademark application must, among other things, contain a list of all the products (goods or services) for which you want the trademark registered, while the description in a patent application must be so clear that a professional must be able to practice the invention on its basis. In a design application, you must submit good and clear photos of the design. The law sets out several such requirements that an application must meet.

After we have assessed the application, we send a letter with a factual statement to the applicant. This is an assessment and not a final decision. There can be several statements of fact in a case.

After we have assessed the application, we will send a letter with a factual statement to the applicant. This is an assessment and not a final decision. There can be several statements of fact in a case.

A novelty examination is an examination carried out by patent authorities, such as NIPO, to find out whether the invention stated in the application is new.

Applies to inventions/patenting and designs.

An invention must be new to be patentable. It must also differ significantly from prior art - see inventive step.

A design must also be new to be registered.

Everything about the invention or the design that is either mentioned in previous patents, journals or other literature (applies worldwide) can be an obstacle to getting a patent or getting the design registered. The same applies if the invention or design has been shown at an exhibition or during a lecture, mentioned in a newspaper or put up for sale.

Delivery date is the date for submitting a trademark application, i.e. the day NIPO has received the application.

Announcement of information about patents, trademarks and designs takes place in Norske tidende.

We publish the Norwegian Patent Gazette and the Norwegian Trademark Gazette every week. Design magazine comes out every other week.

We announce information about new trademarks and designs when these are registered.

We announce bibliographic information about patent applications when the application is submitted and when the application becomes generally available after 18 months.

The patent is also announced when it is granted.

If a dismissed application is not resumed within the deadline for this, the application is finally dismissed. It is then no longer possible to resume the application.

Case documents are publicly available for anyone to look at according to the following rules. Copies can be ordered.

An application for a patent becomes generally available 18 months after the day the application is submitted to NIPO.

A design application usually becomes generally available 6 months after submission of the application.

Whereas trademark applications become generally available from the day you apply.

We use "single person" when we talk about applicants, holders or other customers who are/consist of only one person.

We recommend that you submit your application via our application wizard, but it is also possible to apply via Altinn. If you use Altinn, you must be careful to select the correct role at the top right of the page before starting the application.

You can get easier help from us, for example information about which information you must include in the application. We cannot help you write the application.

You can search for your case in our search service. Type your application number in the search field and then select Trademark, Patent or Design. Click on your application number in the hit list and find the status of your application under Key information.

You can expect a response to your trademark application within 3 weeks. The response time is extended to up to 5 months, if you choose invoice as the payment method for the application fee and/or submit an application with your own proposals for products, i.e. products that are not found in our product selector .

You can expect a first response with assessment of your patent application within 6-8 months. If your patent application is the first application you file for a particular invention, you can request accelerated processing. The response time is shortened to within 3-8 months.

You can expect a response to your design application within 3 months.

Pirated copies or counterfeit goods are products that attempt to appear as original products. They often pretend to have a commercial origin to which they have no connection.

We talk about product imitation when there are two "real" products from two different manufacturers, where one has imitated the other.

The shape of a well-known designer vase is imitated by a cheap brand, or the shape and material use of a popular flashlight is imitated by a competitor, but with the competitor's own trademark. In the case of product counterfeiting, you get close to a product that someone else has already made, but does not pretend to have the same origin as the original product.

The production and sale of imitations can be affected by the Marketing Act, which states that one must not take advantage of other people's efforts or results in an unreasonable way.

As a manufacturer, you can make a stronger case in the fight against product imitations if you have registered rights, such as a design registration.

Transfer rights to another.

All rights you obtain by registering with the Norwegian Patent Office can be transferred to another person. Such transfers must be reported to NIPO, so that we can update our registers.

This service is free.

A sales circle is the group of potential buyers and sellers for the goods/services in question.

Used as a standard to assess how a brand is perceived by those who will actually be able to meet it in a real buying and selling situation. It covers all aspects of the turnover.

However, who the sales circle consists of varies with the type of goods/services.

The sales circle for "swimsuits" will consist of ordinary consumers, professional swimmers, employees in sports shops, manufacturers of sportswear, textiles etc.

For advanced equipment for the oil industry, ordinary consumers will not be part of the sales circle. Here, all members will be largely professional.

A brand is a product that is sent to the market under a specific name, with uniform packaging and quality.

This is a word that has several definitions and is used in many different contexts.

A brand is the sum of all associations customers have with a product, a company or a person. In other words, what the customer says when they have to describe the product, the company or the person. A strong brand means that these associations are consistent and clear.

Branding is giving a brand values, so that the buyer gets the feeling of having bought more than just the product.

Branding often involves adding a symbol or logo to the product, which after several years of marketing should lead to customers associating the product with quality and certain characteristics and benefits, and over time develop trust in the product.

When we talk about commercial origin, we mean who is behind (produces or sells) a product or service.

An appliance or physical object is often referred to as a device or device. In English it is called "device".

The person who owns the patent, trademark registration and/or design registration. We can also refer to the applicant as the holder of the application.

In the area of patents, patent holders are also used.

An attorney/patent attorney is someone who is given the right to act on behalf of others.

NIPO does not require you to appoint an attorney. We will send all correspondence to you as the applicant or owner if you have not appointed a representative in the case. However, situations may arise where a proxy is desirable or necessary.

Abbreviation for industrial rights.

This collective term includes the rights that are also referred to as industrial property rights.

Also called litigation insurance and patent insurance.

It can easily become expensive if you end up in a dispute over intellectual property rights. Litigation insurance, also called IPR insurance, can significantly reduce the cost risk if you have to pay large amounts for legal fees, litigation or compensation.

English abbreviation for Intellectual Property Rights.

This collective term includes the rights that are also mentioned under intellectual property rights and industrial property rights.

We classify all patent applications received by NIPO according to the International Patent Classification (IPC) classification system.

The purpose of the classification is to have an arrangement of patent documents so that it will be possible to find all useful information that is important for the investigation.

Intellectual Property is the English term for intangible values, i.e. values that are not physical.

These can be inventions, trademarks, designs, production processes, methods, databases, various types of intellectual property, know-how and company secrets. This also applies to the right to company names, author and artist rights, photograph rights and the right to circuit patterns for integrated circuits.

IP and IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) are often used interchangeably.

Objections to an application for a trademark, patent or design before it is eventually registered as a trademark/design or granted a patent.

An objection can be submitted at any time before the application is registered/notified. After registration of a trademark/design or grant of a patent, the term opposition or administrative review is used.

Read more about the possibility of filing an objection against an application for a trademark, patent or design.

The legal entity that requires administrative review.

More information on administrative review can be found under appeal options.

The Norwegian Board of Appeal for Industrial Property Rights (KFIR) is an independent, court-like body under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries.

The Board of Appeal handles appeals against the decisions of NIPO concerning patents, trademarks and designs. It also handles appeals related to company names, the Precious Metals Act, and the regulation on the registration of responsibility marks.

You must submit appeals against decisions made by NIPO to NIPO itself, but the Board of Appeal takes over all case processing.

Additionally, the Board of Appeal processes and decides on appeals regarding certain decisions made by the Plant Variety Board in accordance with the Plant Breeders' Rights Act..

An objector is the legal entity that has filed a protest during the application processing.

The legal entity that has filed an opposition after a trademark has been registered or a patent has been granted.

Anyone who believes that a trademark has been registered on an incorrect basis can submit a written opposition to the registration to NIPO.

The deadline for submitting an opposition is three months from the day registration was announced. The opposition may result in the registration being wholly or partially revoked.

Anyone who believes that a patent has been granted on an incorrect basis can submit a written opposition to it to NIPO.

The deadline for submitting an opposition is nine (9) months from the day the patent was granted. By filing an opposition, one attacks the patent's validity or the patentee's right to the invention.

The opposition must be justified, and the justification should be supported by, for example, publications. We process oppositions in our specialist department.

Anyone who believes that a design has been registered on an incorrect basis can request that NIPO carry out an administrative review of the design registration.

Administrative review has replaced the opposition system for design registrations.

This can be done at any time after the design has been registered against payment of a fee.

The processing of an application is paused when the applicant fails to pay a required fee or does not respond to a request from NIPO within the specified deadline.

Shelved applications can be re-established under certain conditions.

Please note that shelving only occurs during the application process and applies only to specific types of deadlines.

A shelved application is not the same as a registration being rejected.

If your application has been shelved, we can resume processing it once you have corrected the deficiency that caused the shelving. You must also pay a reinstatement fee.

The deadline for applying for re-establishment is two months. The deadline is calculated from the expiration of the original deadline that led to the application being shelved.

The administrative review procedure is a quick, simple and cheap alternative to court actions.

Anyone with a legal interest can request an administrative review. The scheme can be used in all three areas of patent, trademark and design, as well as company name.

A trademark application can be transferred from the original applicant to anoyone who can prove entitlement to the application.

The scheme applies at the application stage. After the trademark or design has been registered, you must file an opposition within the opposition deadline to have the right transferred to you.

You can appeal a decision by submitting a written statement. Use the form "Claims and complaints to the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) and the Norwegian Board of Appeal for Industrial Property Rights (KFIR)" in Altinn.

You must include the case number, the grounds for the appeal and possibly attach documentation that can support your appeal.

Monitoring is a service offered by NIPO where you can get regular information about rights others have (regarding patents/trademarks/designs), the proceedings in a specific case or what comes in from applications in a specific area.

You can also use our notification service. You can then be notified by e-mail when competitors apply for rights or there are changes within a selected area.

This is a collective term used for NIPO's investigations into whether a trademark, design or patent is new, whether it can be registered or who may have the rights.

We can inform you about what characterizes the various areas of rights – patent, trademark and design. We can answer what is needed to apply for rights and what it might mean for you and your business.

If you want concrete suggestions for improvements to your idea or help choosing a strategy for protecting and exploiting your idea, you should contact a law firm or a patent office. Such advice is outside our mandate as a public authority.

You can attend our courses, Q&A sessions and workshops on intellectual property rights and related areas, or you can watch recordings of completed events in our course portal. You can also receive our newsletters by filling out and submitting the newsletter registration form.

You will find information about registered patents, trademarks and designs in our database. If you are considering markets other than Norwegian, you should broaden your search and also use international databases.

We offer preliminary surveys to those who need help applying and/or interpreting the results.

We recommend that you use Chrome or Edge when you submit your application via our application wizard.

In case of technical problems, you can try using private/incognito mode in the browser. The browser will ignore all previously saved logins and settings.

To open a private/incognito window in Chrome:
Press Ctrl + Shift + N
Alternatively: Menu > "New incognito window"

To open a private/incognito window in Edge:
Press Ctrl + Shift + N
Alternatively: Menu > "New InPrivate window"

If you do not want to use private/incognito mode, you can try to delete cookies.

When you submit an application, you must pay an application fee. The application fee covers our processing of the application, and is not refunded even if the application is rejected or withdrawn.

The payment solution is provided by NETS via Altinn. If you don't get paid, there may be a problem with one of these providers.

For technical problems see the question about technical problems.

If you want to receive an invoice, instead of paying the application fee at the same time as submitting your application, you must use our application forms in Altinn.

Your patent registration is valid for up to 20 years from the day you submitted the application, as long as you pay the annual fees.

Your design registration is valid for five years from the day you submitted the application. You can renew your registration for a further four five-year periods to a maximum of 25 years.

Your trademark registration is valid for 10 years from the day you submitted the application. You must then pay a renewal fee every 10 years to maintain your registration.

Renewing your right is voluntary. We therefore do not issue an invoice for the annual patent fee, or renewal fee for design and trademark. You will only receive a letter with notification approx. two months before the payment deadline. How to pay:

There are unscrupulous players who send invoices for the annual fee/renewal fee. They find information about your business in public databases. You should not pay invoices from unknown companies.

You update your information by submitting a written statement. Use the forms in Altinn. We do not automatically obtain company information from the Brønnøysund Register Centre and/or contact information from the National Population Register.