Privacy policy

NIPO's privacy policy provides you with information about privacy at the Norwegian Industrial Property Office. Among other things, it contains information on what personal data is processed and how it is used. This information will be regularly updated.

NIPO's processing of personal data

Purpose

NIPO's purpose is to promote innovation and value creation, and help trade and industry and society to manage their intangible assets and intellectual property rights well. Personal information forms part of the data NIPO must have in order to fulfil its purpose and the obligations imposed on us as a public authority in the field of industrial property rights.

Foundation for processing

The Norwegian Industrial Property Office Act and the patent, trademark and design acts provide NIPO with a foundation and mandatory instructions regarding how we use your personal information both in case management and in the administration of the rights registers. The regulations require NIPO to inform the public about industrial property rights. We register, process and publish information about industrial property rights as part of these obligations.

If we wish to use your personal data for purposes other than those that follow from the act, we will ask for your consent for this. This applies for example to the dispatch of information letters or direct marketing. If you have given your consent for this, you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Personal data

Personal data is any form of information that directly or indirectly can be linked to a physical person. This may, for example, be first name and surname, a private address or an e-mail address. We use your contact information and payment information in connection with the processing of applications for patents, trademarks and designs. The same applies if we receive your applications via others, for example international organisations such as the European Patent Office (EPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). It also applies to users of our digital services, if a separate user account has been set up.

Processing

NIPO is responsible for the data we receive concerning you being processed in accordance with relevant regulations. NIPO has drawn up an information security policy, and our management system for information security is based on the ISO 27001 standard. Our IT systems are physically located in well secured premises. We make continuous efforts to ensure confidentiality, privacy and availability of data.

NIPO staff have a duty of confidentiality, and we have systems and procedures aimed at ensuring secure processing of personal data. Employees at NIPO have access to your personal data only to the extent necessary for case processing or in connection with other services we provide.

Personal data is delivered to other public authorities when NIPO is obliged to do so. Examples are statutory exchange of information with the Norwegian Board of Appeal for Industrial Property Rights, the Norwegian Tax Administration and the Norwegian Police. We also pass on data to the patent authorities of other countries and international organisations within the frameworks of international cooperation and agreements. We exchange information with data processors to maintain our IT systems. We only pass on data we are obliged to pass on. Beyond this, personal data is passed on only after consent has been obtained from the person to whom the data applies.

Your rights

The Personal Data Act (LOV-2018-06-15-38) and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU-2016/679) give you a number of rights. Chapter 3 of GDPR is particularly relevant to you as a data subject. This states that you have the right to be informed that your personal information is being processed. You can ask for access to what data is processed and how and why we process data concerning you.

You have the right to have information concerning you erased or to have incorrect data concerning you rectified as quickly as possible, and to have incomplete data supplemented. Note that the Administration Act and the Archives Act set limits for what can be erased. Nor can you have data erased that is necessary to enable NIPO to fulfil its purpose with case processing, or erasure of which will breach NIPO's obligations under applicable legislation or international obligations. If you wish to receive more information or assistance, you can contact us. If you believe that we process your personal data in breach of the Data Protection Act, you can appeal to the NIPO data protection officer or the Norwegian Data Protection Authority.

Contact information

Organization Number: 971 526 157
Postal Address: Patentstyret,
Postboks 4863 Nydalen,
N-0422 Oslo
Address: Sandakerveien 64, 0484 Oslo
E-mail: post@patentstyret.no
Support Center: +47 22 38 73 00

Telephone enquiries: Monday– Friday 9am – 3.45pm

We are open every weekday.

Send us a message

NIPO's data protection officer is  Vegar Johnsrud.

Website traffic statistics

On the websites patentstyret.no and search.patentstyret.no we use the analytics tool Google Analytics to collect and assess information on how visitors use the website. Google Analytics uses cookies. Google Analytics receives only general web traffic statistics, for example browser type, time, language and which website the user came from.

In line with usual practice on the internet, the user's IP address is registered by the website patentstyret.no. In order to anonymise the IP address, NIPO uses a script that removes the last few digits from the IP address before the information is stored by Google Analytics. This means that the analytics tool can estimate the user's geographical location, but the address cannot be used to identify the individual. The information received is subject to Google's privacy guidelines.