SLOVENIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Nataša Pipan Nahtigal, Veronika Novak and Katarina Čepon, Šelih & partnerji
Dispute Resolution Disputes concerning the organisation and operation of collecting societies are generally decided by ordinary courts under commercial litigation rules, unless juris- diction lies with administrative or specialised intellec- tual property courts. Collecting societies must provide effective internal dispute resolution mechanisms for members, rights-holders and partner organisations, particularly regarding mandates, membership condi- tions, royalty collection and distribution, and operating costs. They are required to respond to complaints in writing and give reasons if a complaint is rejected. Final decisions of a collecting society can be chal- lenged before the competent intellectual property court. In addition, parties may opt for mediation before the competent authority in any copyright-related dis- pute, including those concerning royalties. 4. Industrial Designs and Trade Dress 4.1 Legal Framework and Protectable Subject Matter Legal Framework of Industrial Designs In Slovenia, industrial designs are governed by the Industrial Property Act, as well as international trea- ties and EU law. Some of the more important treaties and regulations are the Paris Convention for the Pro- tection of Industrial Property, the TRIPS Agreement, the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Indus- trial Designs, Directive 98/71/EC on the legal protec- tion of designs and Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs. Protectable Subject Matter A design may be registered for the appearance of a product, which is defined as the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting in particular from the features of lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its orna- mentation. 4.2 Requirements for Protection Requirements for Protection The appearance of a product must be new (meaning that no identical design has been made available to
the public before) and must have individual character (eg, the overall impression it produces on an informed user differs from the overall impression produced by any other public design). It can be either an industrial or a handicraft item. Unregistered EU Designs In Slovenia, only unregistered EU designs provide pro- tection to designs without any prior registration. The design is protected on the disclosure of the design. This protection lasts for three years, is free and is valid throughout the whole EU territory. However, an unreg- istered EU design protects only against copying. 4.3 Registration and Term The application for registration of a design or designs must be accompanied by: • the request for registration, usually submitted on the designated form; • a photograph or a graphic representation of each design; and • proof of payment of the application fee, which amounts to EUR80 for one design and EUR65 for each additional design. A single application may relate to multiple designs, provided that they are classified in the same class of the Locarno Classification. A design is protected for an initial period of five years and can be renewed for five-year periods to a maxi- mum total duration of 25 years. 4.4 Enforcement and Remedies Infringements Infringement of a design arises when a third party, without the consent of the rights-holder, uses the rights-holder’s design, which includes manufactur- ing, offering or placing on the market, importing, exporting, use or stocking. The protection extends to any design that does not produce a different overall impression on the informed user. Possible Remedies In case of an infringement of an earlier design, filing a petition with the court to declare a design invalid is possible. However, the primary course of action is
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