On 1 September 2016 a new judicial system for intellectual property rights, market law and competition law cases entered into force in Sweden. Two new courts, the Patent and Market Court and the Patent and Market Court of Appeal, replaced the previous courts Court of Patent Appeals and Market Court. The primary reason for a new judicial system within the afore-mentioned areas is to attain a court specialisation with the hope of improved quality of judgments and shorter processing durations, which in turn may entail both cost benefits and time savings for all involved parties.
Parallel to this, the Consumer Ombudsman has been granted higher sanction opportunities. Now the Consumer Ombudsman has the opportunity to decide that an order such as a prohibition or information injunction should apply immediately. The purpose of the greater sanction opportunities is to further strengthen the Swedish consumer protection.
PREVIOUS COURT HIERARCHY
NEW COURT HIERARCHY
CASE TYPES AND DELIMITATION
The new courts will try the following case types.
- Infringement of intellectual property rights
- Registration and grant of registered intellectual property rights
- Annulment of registered intellectual property rights
- Cases on information injunctions and infringement examinations concerning intellectual property rights
- Criminal cases on intellectual property rights
- Marketing cases
- Competition law cases
The following case types (which are close to the area of intellectual property rights and market law) are not tried by the new courts.
- Registration of firm
- Publication authorisation and registration of name
- Trade secrets
- Cases concerning the Act on Names and Pictures in Advertising
Read more (in Swedish)
- New Patent and Market Court
- Higher sanction opportunities for the Consumer Ombudsman
WOULD YOU LIKE MORE INFORMATION?
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US AT MORRIS LAW
HENRIK ALMSTRÖM
Associate
Telephone: +46 10 722 36 12
Mobile: +46 738 26 47 75
E-mail: henrik.almstrom@morrislaw.se
KARIN ODKRANS
Associate
Telephone: +46 10 722 36 21
Mobile: +46 708 83 73 46
E-mail: karin.odkrans@morrislaw.se