– Law on Designs of November 7, 2002, in force since January 1, 2003, amended on April 29, 2004, June 8, 2006, July 1, 2008, November 8, 2012, March 30, 2017 and June 29, 2017 (entered into force on May 1, 2018, except Article 3, which entered into force on July 12, 2017).

– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since April 30, 1992.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since May 22, 1994.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since July 19, 1997.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since May 31, 2001.
– Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, Geneva Act, since September 26, 2008.

Applicant: any natural person or legal entity or a collective of natural persons and/or legal entities.

Foreigners: foreign nationals who are not permanent residents of the Republic of Lithuania, or another member State of the European Union, or another European Economic Area, and legal persons of foreign States who do not have a subsidiary or representative registered in the Republic of Lithuania, or another member State of the European Union, or another European Economic Area, shall file applications to the State Patent Bureau and perform all actions relating to the registration of the mark with the State Patent Bureau, including also representation at the Appeals Division, through a patent attorney of the Republic of Lithuania.

Naming of the creator of the design: a design application must contain mention of the name of the author or authors.

Definition: design means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colors, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation.

Novelty: is new if, up to the application or priority date, the appearance of the article was not identical to an article available to the public. The novelty of an industrial design is not jeopardized by the dissemination of information about it, if the information was disseminated within twelve months of the application or priority date and the information was disseminated by: (1) the author or the author’s successor who has the right to receive the industrial design certificate; (2) another person who wanted to harm the author or the author’s successor.

Individual character: a design shall be considered to have individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any design which has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application for registration or, if priority is claimed, the date of priority. In assessing individual character, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing the design shall be taken into consideration.

Priority: must be claimed on filing. Priority document must be provided within three months from the filing date.

Series applications: up to one hundred examples of the design may be combined in one application belonging to the same class of the International Industrial Design Classification.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. A request for the registration of a design and issuance of a design registration certificate, signed by the applicant or his representative;
2. Photographs or graphic representations of a design (design image);
3. Description of the industrial design;
4. Power of attorney, if application is filed by an authorized person (no legalization);
5. A declaration concerning designer’s authorship;
6. Document confirming the transfer of the design rights (where appropriate);
7. A document confirming priority under paragraph 3 of Article 11 of the Law (where appropriate);
8. Authorization granted by competent authorities under subparagraphs 3 or 4 of Article 9 of the Law (where appropriate);
9. Consent of the design holder according to subparagraphs 5 or 6 of paragraph 1 of Article 10 of the Law (where appropriate);
10. A request concerning an earlier date of publication of a design (where appropriate);
11. A request for deferment of publication of a design (where appropriate).

Note: the request for registration must be filed in Lithuanian. If the accompanying submitted documents are not in Lithuanian, their translation into Lithuanian must be submitted to the State Patent Bureau within three months from the date of filing the application.  

Electronic filing: from September 30, 2014 a new Order from the Director of the State Patent Bureau on the rules of electronic filing of documents came into force. The Order establishes new procedures to file design applications online and other related documents.

For a change of name or address:
1. A request to enter an amendment in the application or Design Register or a request to correct an error;
2. Proof of payment of the official fee;
3. Power of attorney in the new name/address (no legalization);
4. A copy of the document showing the change (no legalization).

Procedure: the State Patent Bureau only conducts a formal examination, i.e. examination of the application documents and an examination of the design to ascertain whether or not there are grounds for refusal of registration of a design.

Appeal: an unfavorable decision can be appealed at the State Patent Bureau’s Appeals Division.

Granting: the design is registered at the Lithuanian Register of Industrial Designs after payment of a registration fee.

Publication: the registered design is published in the Official Bulletin of the State Patent Bureau.

Opposition: has to be filed with the State Patent Bureau’s Appeals Division within three months from the date of publication. The decision of the Division of Appeals may be contested in court (final decision).

Delivery of document: the design registration certificate is issued in electronic or paper format. The applicant should indicate in the application if he would like to receive the certificate in paper format, with no additional fee for the paper format.

Duration: the protection for a registered industrial design is valid for five years from the filing date of the application.

Extension – renewal – grace period: the first five-year period can be extended four times, each for five years, upon payment of the renewal fees which can be paid in the last six months before the expiry date of the registration or within six months after the expiry date of the registration with a 50% surcharge fee.

License: may be registered in the Register of Designs. 

Assignment: an assignment agreement is valid and enforceable only if the agreement is recorded in the Register of Designs.

Right of prior user: a person who in good faith was using and (or) making serious preparations to use the industrial design before the priority date of the application shall have the right to continue such use.

Invalidation: the Vilnius County Court handles all disputes regarding the invalidation of an industrial design owner’s rights. Appeals against the decisions of the State Patent Bureau’s Appeals Division are also handled before the Vilnius County Court.