LIECHTENSTEIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Hannes Arnold, Thomas Nigg, Christina Pointner, Sebastian Auer, Johannes Sander, René Saurer and Marta Baftiaj, Gasser Partner
resentative/agent for the entire duration of the regis - tration. The Office examines formal requirements and absolute grounds for refusal (such as lack of distinc - tiveness or descriptiveness), but does not conduct a search for older trade marks. The procedure from filing to registration typically takes three months if no objec - tion is raised. Since 1 January 2023, Liechtenstein has introduced an administrative opposition procedure, as well as procedures for declaration of nullity and invalidity. International registration is possible via the Madrid Agreement/Protocol. The trade mark must be used within five years from the uncontested expiry of the opposition period or, if opposition has been filed, from the date on which the decision concluding the opposition proceedings became final; use within any of the territories of Liechtenstein, Switzerland or the Civil law remedies include actions for injunctive relief, claims for damages and disgorgement of profits, and orders for the destruction, seizure or recall of infring - ing goods, actions for declaratory judgment, actions for assigning a trade mark, and publication of respec - tive judgements. Provisional measures, including pre - liminary injunctions, are available; further, trade mark infringements may also be punished under criminal law. 7.3 Industrial Designs Definition A design protects the shapes, lines, contours, col - ours and other aesthetic characteristics of a product or parts thereof. Protection is governed by the Liech - tenstein Design Act ( Designgesetz ; DesG) of 11 Sep - tember 2002. Designs can be protected when they are new (novel) and possess individual character, and are not offensive or contrary to public order. Length of Protection EU is regarded as proper use. Enforcement and Remedies Protection lasts for five years from the date of filing and may be extended by four additional protection periods of five years each. Accordingly, a maximum protection period of 25 years is provided for. Registration Process Application forms are filed with the Office of Economic Affairs ( Amt für Volkswirtschaft ) in German. The pro -
cedure from filing to registration typically takes three months. The design may refer to the entirety of a prod - uct or only parts thereof. A design owner who has nei - ther residence nor a registered office nor a branch in Liechtenstein must also have appointed a local lawyer or patent agent. The representative will be registered with the design in the design register, and it must be ensured to appoint such representative for the entire duration of the registration. The design is then reg - istered without prior examination of its novelty and individual character; the Office of Economic Affairs only examines formal requirements and mandatory grounds for exclusion according to the Design Act. Priority may be claimed in line with the Paris Con - vention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 20 March 1883. International registration is also possible via the Hague System for the International Registra - tion of Industrial Designs. Enforcement and Remedies Civil law remedies include actions for injunctive relief, claims for damages and disgorgement of profits, and orders for the destruction, seizure or recall of infring - ing goods, actions for declaratory judgment, actions for assigning a design and publication of respective judgements. Provisional measures, including prelimi - nary injunctions, are available; further, design infringe - ments may also be punished under criminal law. 7.4 Copyright Definition Copyright protects intellectual creations in the fields of literature and art that possess an individual charac - ter. The main source of copyright law is the Copyright Act ( Urheberrechtsgesetz ). Protected works include literary works, artistic works, musical compositions, dramatic works, photographs, software, databases (under certain conditions) and films/audiovisual works. Authors receive both economic rights (reproduction, distribution, public performance, communication to the public, adaptation) and moral rights (right to be named as author, right to object to distortions). Length of Protection The general term of protection is the author’s lifetime plus 70 years after death. For anonymous or pseu - donymous works, protection expires 70 years after publication. For films, protection lasts 70 years after
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