According to a Government Bill (HE 124/2012 vp) that has been
given to the Parliament on 4 October 2012, industrial property
right as well as copyright matters will be dealt with by the Market
Court as of September 2013.
Currently, issues related to copyrights, patents, utility models,
designs, trademarks, trade names, plant breeder's rights and
employee inventions are processed by various bodies. The aim of the
reform is to seek synergy benefits with regard to the expertise of
the Market Court, enhance efficiency and speed up the proceedings.
The Market Court is a special court currently dealing with cases
related to unfair business practices Act, competition law and
public procurement. Moreover, centralization allows the parties to
claim for different types of legal remedies under the same
proceedings – which is not always the case in the current
system.
According to the Government Bill, the Market Court would have
jurisdiction over the appeals of the decisions of the registration
authorities, all dispute and application issues related to
copyright and industrial property rights and the related
precautionary measures. In addition to the copyright and industrial
property right matters, the reform covers domain name appeals of
the decisions of the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority
(Ficora). However, the Market Court would not handle IPR related
criminal proceedings over which the District Court of Helsinki
would have exclusive jurisdiction, except for the copyright cases
which are handled by all District Courts.
As the Market Court would take over most of its functions, the
Board of Appeal of the National Board of Patents and Registration
would be disbanded approximately six months after the entering into
force of the reforms.
The reform also relates to the composition of the Court and to the
special qualification requirements of the judges. With regard to
patent issues which require technical expertise, the reform
introduces Market Court Engineers to the composition alongside the
legally trained members. Accordingly, the functions of the
court-appointed technical experts would no longer be needed.
The appeals of the decisions of the Market Court would be dealt
with by the Supreme Administrative Court with regard to
registration authority decisions and by the Supreme Court with
regard to the disputes and application issues. Both routes of
appeal require a leave to appeal from the respective Court.
The matters that have been commenced in the District Courts before
the reform would be dealt with according to the current
regulations. However, some matters pending at the Board of Appeal
of the National Board of Patents and Registration would be
transferred to the Market Court.
The Government Bill was introduced in the beginning of October
2012 and is currently under discussion at the Finnish Parliament.
As the reform is connected to the state budget proposal for 2013,
prompt handling to the Bill during Autumn 2012 can be expected.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
