Finland welcomes centralised IP court
A court in Finland will now hear all civil disputes over intellectual property, marking the birth of the first centralised court for IP rights in the country.
The Market Court, which already deals with marketing and competition disputes and public procurement cases, officially opened for IP business on September 1.
Taking control of IP matters from national district courts, the court will also hear preliminary injunction applications, invalidation cases and appeals from the National Board of Patents and Registrations (NBPR).
The NBPR’s board of appeal will be abolished, while general district courts will continue to hear criminal IP cases.
Appeals against the granting of .fi (Finland) domain names by the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority will also be heard at the court.
Most IP cases will be overseen by three specialist IP judges. In patent and utility model cases, a specialist engineer with a judge’s capacity will join two judges. Appeals against NBPR registration decisions on patent and utility models will be handled by one judge and two specialist engineers.
It is hoped cases will be processed more quickly and efficiently, as the current average time for reaching a decision at the court is about six months.
Another major aim is to have judges with a strong knowledge of IP deciding cases, with the court expected to produce more predictable and high quality decisions.
Kati Rantala, senior associate at Attorneys-at-Law Juridia Bützow in Helsinki, said she was “convinced” that the court will successfully deal with IP cases.
“The procedural rules are flexible and they guarantee that a final, legally valid judgment can be passed quickly,” she said.
Decisions on contentious IP matters can be appealed to the Supreme Court, while decisions covering prosecution matters can be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. Both are subject to obtaining leave to appeal.
“The Supreme Court has unofficially mentioned that it will not change its practice and grant leave to appeal more than it has done before,” Rantala said. “Therefore, it is probable that the Supreme Court grants leave to appeal only as an exception and that the majority of the decisions of the Market Court will remain final. This is considered to reduce the duration and costs of IP trials, however it is also feared to reduce legal protection for the parties.”
Rantala added: “Due to short processing times of the Market Court and a lack of appeal phase in most of the cases, it is possible that a final, non-appealable judgment will be handed down in six months to two years.
“Such a fast proceeding might make Finland an attractive country to file a suit. It is possible that forum shopping will occur, as the plaintiff might want its case to be handled by the Market Court.”
