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Intellectual property - Norway

Updated 10/2012

Legal requirements

The protection of intellectual property is governed by the following Acts:

  • Patents Act norsk
  • Trade Marks Act norsk
  • Designs Act norsk
  • Copyright Act norsk

Intellectual property rights

Protecting intellectual property

In some cases, intellectual property may be a company's biggest asset. Many types of intellectual property can be protected by various registration schemes. Registration provides documentable ownership of the intellectual property. This covers patents, trade marks, designs, domain names, etc.

A patent gives exclusive rights to exploit an invention commercially for a limited period (up to 20 years). During this period, others can be prevented from producing, importing or selling the invention that is patented.

  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Patents norsk

A trade mark registration confers exclusive rights to use the trade mark to identify goods and services. This exclusive right entitles you to stop others using similar marks for goods or services. The right covers the use of the mark on the goods themselves, in advertising, on documents, in oral statements or in any other way. Trade mark protection lasts for ten years from the date of registration. The registration can be renewed every ten years, any number of times.

  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Trade marks norsk

Design refers to the appearance and shape of a product or part of a product. Design registration gives you the exclusive right to exploit the design commercially for a limited period. During this period, others can be prevented from producing, importing or selling the design that is protected. The registration can be renewed for several periods up to a total of 25 years.

  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Designs norsk

Norid manages the .no domain and maintains the central database of all Norwegian domain names.

  • Norid norsk

The right to an enterprise name is acquired from the date on which one starts to use the name in Norway or the date on which notification reaches the Register of Business Enterprises. The right means that nobody else can use or register an identical enterprise name.

  • Altinn on enterprise names norsk

Copyright

The Copyright Act defines a creative work as 'a literary, scientific or artistic work of any kind, irrespective of the manner or form of expression'. In order to use or copy the work, permission must be obtained from the author and the publisher. It is not permitted to copy the work itself even if it does not carry such a prohibition.

  • More information on copyright can be obtained from Kopinor norsk

Commercial strategies

Before presenting an idea to potential partners, you should sign a non-disclosure agreement. This will limit the possibility of the idea being used unlawfully by the other party.

Institutions for protecting intellectual property

The Norwegian Industrial Property Office is a national body that helps Norwegian businesses to enhance their activities with knowledge of industrial property rights - helping them to safeguard their investments and competitive positions and create economic growth in Norwegian society.

  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office norsk

The Nordic Patent Institute is a partnership between the patent authorities in Denmark, Norway and Iceland. Its main role is to provide various types of service in the patents field to other patent authorities and to individuals. The Nordic Patent Institute has the status of a PCT authority, i.e. an international authority for novelty analyses and preparatory assessment of patentability.

The main function of Kopinor is to act on behalf of copyright holders in Norway and abroad to sign and maintain agreements with all types of business in Norway on copying protected material.

  • Kopinor norsk

Combating counterfeiting and piracy

Under the Customs Act, Norwegian Customs is empowered to block suspected pirate copies, warn the rights holder of this and seize the goods.

  • Norwegian Customs norsk

Property rights encourage investment in innovation and research.

Administrative procedures

Registration

The regulations for patent, design and trade mark protection are managed by the Norwegian Industrial Property Office, which also processes applications.

There are various registration forms associated with patents, trade marks and designs, which can be found on the Norwegian Industrial Property Office web site.

  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office web site norsk
  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Application form and guidance on applying for a patent norsk Online government service
  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Application form and guidance on applying for a trade mark norsk Online government service
  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Application form and guidance on registering a design norsk Online government service

To apply for a patent abroad, you can submit a patent application to the national authorities in the individual countries in which you are seeking patent protection, or you can make use of international or regional schemes that make it easier to apply for patents in several countries at once.

Trade mark registration abroad can be done through the Madrid Protocol or by applying for a Community trade mark.

  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Information on schemes norsk

Norid manages the .no domain and maintains the central database of all Norwegian domain names.

  • Norid - Information on registering domains norsk

Resources

You can find more information here:

  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Handbook for creators and innovators norsk
  • Altinn - Patents guide pdf [289 KB] norsk

Check also the legislation on this topic in:

  • References

    Legal texts

    • Act of 15.12.1967 No 9: Act relating to patents (Patents Act) norsk
    • Act of 03.03.1961 No 4: Act relating to trade marks (Trade Marks Act) norsk
    • Act of 14.03.2003 No 15: Act relating to the protection of designs (Designs Act) norsk
    • Act of 12.05.1961 No 2: Act relating to copyright in literary, scientific and artistic works, etc. (Copyright Act) norsk
    • Act of 21.06.1985 No 79: Act relating to sole rights to company names and other designations (Company Names Act) norsk
    • Reg. of 01.08.2003 No 990: Regulation relating to domain names under the Norwegian top-level domain (Domain Regulation) norsk

    Key documents

    • Altinn - Patents guide pdf [289 KB] norsk

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Further help

The Norwegian Industrial Property Office can provide information and guidance on how to proceed if you want to apply for a patent, trade mark or registered design.

  • Norwegian Industrial Property Office norsk

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