Region: Finland

The Supreme Court has allowed an action against two shipping agents to have counterfeit goods destroyed even though the agents were not found guilty of trademark infringement. The court held that allowing the action was necessary in order to comply with the principles of EU counterfeiting legislation.

24 February 2003

The Finnish Parliament is examining a new, more liberal act to regulate the '.fi' domain space. The proposed act, expected to come into force during the first half of this year, will allow companies to register domain names that are generic or that are neither a trademark nor a company name.

31 January 2003

The Finnish Design Rights Act has been amended to implement the EU Design Rights Directive. Design protection may now be extended to a part of a product that cannot be disconnected, and to a product composed of multiple replaceable components. In addition, the term of protection has been extended from 15 to 25 years.

15 November 2002

The government has drafted a Domain Names Act that is expected to come into force by March 2003. The new law will significantly broaden the types of name that may be registered and, as a result, increase the number of domain name disputes that will have to be settled.

08 April 2002