Patent registration in Finland. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country and a member state of the European Union in Northern Europe. After World War II, the country rapidly industrialized and developed an advanced economy, while building an extensive welfare state based on the Nordic model, resulting in widespread prosperity and a high per capita income. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development. In 2015, Finland was ranked first in the World Human Capital and the Press Freedom Index and as the most stable country in the world during 2011–2016 in the Fragile States Index, and second in the Global Gender Gap Report. It also ranked first on the World Happiness Report report for 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in Finland.
Patent in Finland
To be patentable in Finland, a technical invention must satisfy the following requirements:
- be novel;
- involve an inventive step;
- be industrially applicable.
To be novel, the solution defined in the patent claim must not have already been made available to the public through writing, lectures or public use or be otherwise known. However, the Finland law does provide a novelty grace period in which the disclosure of the information about the invention within 6 months before the filing or priority date does not disprove the novelty of the invention in Finland. This means that the patent application in Finland will still consider to be valid if the invention is disclosed in the following cases:
– the disclosure resulted from an evident abuse in relation to the applicant or his/her predecessor in title;
– the invention was disclosed at an official or officially recognised international exhibition.
The inventive step requirement is satisfied if the invention is not obvious to a person skilled in the art and it is not general knowledge.
An invention will be capable of industrial application if it is technological in nature and the technical solution can be regularly reproduced.
On the other hand, the following subjects are not patentable in Finland, including:
- discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
- aesthetic creations:
- schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers;
- presentations of information.
- methods for surgical or therapeutic treatment or diagnostic methods, practiced on humans or animals.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Finland
The necessary documents for patent registration in Finland include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The applicant will need to provide a Finnish translation of the required documents within 18 months from the filing date, before the publication of the application.
The procedure of patent registration in Finland
To obtain a patent in Findland, the applicant will need to file their patent application to the IP Office of Finland.
The application will then undergo both formality examination and substantive examination.
Unlike most other countries, the substantive examination will be automatically conducted with no specific request needed.
If the patent application passes the examinations, it will be published and later a patent will be granted to the applicant after all the required fees have been paid.
A patent in Finland will be valid for 20 years from the filing date.
The due date for payment of annual fees is the last day of the month containing the anniversary of the filing date.
Late payment is possible within 6 month after the due date, provided that a 20% surcharge is paid.
You can see a list of Finland IP Firms here.