Industrial design protection in Lithuania covers product appearance and may be obtained through national registration, EU design protection or the Hague System.
Industrial design applications in Lithuania are filed and prosecuted before the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania, Valstybinis patentų biuras (VPB).
Foreign applicants who do not reside in Lithuania must act through a registered Lithuanian patent attorney.
A 12-month grace period applies from the first disclosure if the disclosure was made by the designer or successor in title.
The application is filed with VPB electronically or on paper. The Office checks whether the necessary elements are present and whether the documents comply with formal requirements.
VPB does not examine compliance with novelty and originality requirements during the registration procedure.
After successful formal examination, VPB issues a decision to register the industrial design.
The design is entered in the Register of Industrial Designs, registration information is published in the official bulletin and the certificate of registration is issued.
The standard registration procedure for an industrial design in Lithuania usually takes approximately 3–4 months from the filing date.
The power of attorney may be submitted within 3 months from the filing date. Legalisation is not required.
Important: All documents must be submitted in Lithuanian. If the application is filed in another language, a Lithuanian translation must be provided within 3 months.
Where convention priority is claimed within 6 months from the first filing, a certified copy of the priority document must be submitted within the prescribed term.
An industrial design registration in Lithuania is valid for 5 years from the filing date.
Protection may be renewed for successive 5-year periods up to a maximum total term of 25 years from the filing date.
Maintenance is handled through five-year renewal periods, which simplifies portfolio administration compared with systems requiring annual payments.