Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the East of Sweden and Denmark. It borders Latvia to the North, Belarus to the East and South, Poland to the South, Russia to the Southwest. Its capital is Vilnius.

Patent

The term for filing a patent application in Lithuania is 12 months from the priority date. This term may be restored if the application is filed within 2 months after the deadline. The Lithuanian patent application should be filed in Lithuanian. However it is possible to file the application in any other foreign language, with further submission of the Lithuanian translation within 3 months from the date of filing.Patent application in Lithuania is examined according to the formal requirements and whether the applied object is registrable according to the legislation. There is no substantive examination stipulated, the patent is issued on the responsibility of the applicant and may be appealed in court. The examination fee as well as examination request are not stipulated either.6-month novelty grace period before filing date or priority date applies is needed, if the disclosure was made by a person having an interest in making an abuse with respect to inventor or his successor in title, or where an inventor or his successor in title displayed the invention at the officially recognized exhibition. The registration fee should be paid within 3 months from receipt of a notification about publication of the application. The patent maintenance fees are paid for pending applications starting from the 3rd year.It is worthy to note that entering the PCT national phase in Lithuania is possible only for PCT applications filed before September 4, 2014. For PCT applications filed after this date, Lithuania is not designated as an individual state for the national phase entry and patent protection in said country can be sought by entering the European PCT regional phase and further validation of the European patent in Lithuania. Besides, for the foreigners it is necessary to perform the patent prosecution in Lithuania through an agent, a registered Lithuanian patent attorney.

Trademark

In Lithuania, trademarks may consist of signs, in particular: words, personal surnames, names, artistic pseudonyms, business names of legal persons, slogans; letters, numerals; drawings, emblems; three-dimensional form (the shape of products, their packaging or containers); colors or combinations of colors, their compositions; combination of the above-mentioned elements, and multiple classes applications are possible.Trademark in Lithuania is valid for ten years from the date of filing of the application and renewable every 10 years. In case the trademark has not been used within a period of 5 continuous years after registration it may be a subject to cancellation. The official fee for issuance of the trademark certificate in Lithuania must be paid within 3 months from issuance of the decision to register a trademark. The trademark registration may be renewed by the proprietor for 10-year periods unlimited number of times if the corresponding documents are filed to the Patent Office within the last year of the 10-year trademark registration validity. In case this term is missed the trademark certificate may be renewed within a period of six months by paying the 50% fine.

Industrial Design

The legal protection may be granted to the industrial design in the Lithuania if it is new and has an individual character, and lndustrial design protection in Lithuania may be also obtained via registration of Community Design.The term for filing an industrial design application in Lithuania claiming priority is 6 months from the priority date. An application is examined according to the formal requirements and also whether the applied object is registrable according to the Lithuanian legislation. No substantive examination on industrial design stipulated by the Lithuanian legislation, the design is registered on the responsibility of the applicant and may be appealed in court. The examination fee as well as examination request are not stipulated either.The design validity term in Lithuania is 5 years from the date of filing. This term may be renewed every 5 years up to 25 years in total. In accordance with the Design Law in Lithuania the maintenance fees of the design registration for the first 5-years should be paid together with the fees for the registration and publication of the patent. The next maintenance fees for the second, third, fourth and fifth 5-years period are paid within the last 6 months of the 5th year of the current 5-year period.For the foreigners it is necessary to perform the industrial design registration in Lithuania through an agent, a registered Lithuanian patent attorney.

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