1. Introduction
The new Finnish Market Court Act (99/2013) will move the hearing of intellectual property disputes to Market Court as the first instance as of 1 September 2013. This means a significant change in comparison to the current situation where either one of the district courts or administrative courts have jurisdiction.
The change in jurisdiction is implemented to take into account the increased importance of intellectual property rights caused by recent technological developments and globalization. The complex nature of the intellectual property laws especially in their application to the rapidly evolving technology makes disputes concerning intellectual property difficult to resolve.
To safeguard the necessary expertise on intellectual property law and technology aspects, hearing of intellectual property disputes is consolidated to the Market Court. The Market Court is a special court, which currently deals with market law, competition and public procurements cases as well as disputes regarding unfair business practices.
Jurisdiction over intellectual property disputes is currently divided between the District Courts, and certain administrative courts or boards. Patent and trademark matters are handled by a division of the District Court of Helsinki, while copyright disputes could land at any District Court. Disputed application matters involving intellectual property rights are heard by the Complaint Board of the National Board of Patents and Registration.
The Market Court will begin hearing intellectual property rights disputes initiated on or after 1 September 2013. The Complaint Board of the National Board of Patents and Registration will be gradually dismantled at a timetable to be decided on later.
2. Improving the quality of intellectual property rights litigation
According to the new Finnish Market Court Act, the Market Court will have jurisdiction over all disputes and application matters concerning intellectual property rights and the related precautionary measures. It will handle the appeals against the decisions of the National Board of Patents and Registration and the appeals against the domain name decisions made by the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority.
Nevertheless, the Market Court does not have jurisdiction over purely contractual disputes where none of the claims is based on an alleged violation of an intellectual property right. However, the Market Court may hear contractual or other claims associated with an intellectual property right dispute if the claims are filed at the same time and are based on substantially the same facts.
The Market Court does not have jurisdiction over any criminal cases even if the case would involve infringement of intellectual property rights. Criminal cases will continue to be heard in the District Courts.
The new system also means important changes to the composition of the Market Court. Depending on the nature of the case, the composition may include up to three legally trained judges and one or more Market Court Engineers or expert members. The Market Court Engineer's position is a new judicial office and the Market Court Engineers do not have to be legally trained and are selected for their technical expertise. For example, in cases relating to patents, utility models and circuit designs, the lawful composition of the Market Court will consist of three judges and one Market Court Engineer.
Appeals against the Market Court's decisions in intellectual property rights related disputes and application matters may be filed at the Supreme Court. With regard to the decisions of registration authorities, the Market Court's judgments may be appealed in the Supreme Administrative Court. In both situations, leave to appeal is required.
According to the Government Bill (HE 124/2012), the change in jurisdiction intends to make the protection of intellectual property rights more effective, to produce judgment with higher quality and to increase the predictability of case outcomes. Furthermore, its purpose is to speed up the proceedings and thus decrease the costs of litigation. High-quality judgments are expected to reduce the number of appeals and to increase the intellectual property rights holders' confidence in intellectual property rights litigation.
Fundamentally changing jurisdictional boundaries and procedural matters will inevitably result in significant practical questions as to construction of the new law. These questions will be resolved primarily through case law but may result also in additional statutory law to be necessary for the new system to live up to its promises.
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.
