On Design

LAW OF GEORGIA

ON DESIGN

 

Chapter I - General Provisions

 

Article 1 - Scope of the Law

1. In accordance with the Constitution of Georgia, the inviolability of title to a design, which is an object of intellectual property, is recognised by this Law; this Law also regulates relations associated with creation, registration, use and legal protection of designs as well as relations related to rights to be exercised with respect to the legal protection of designs.

2. This Law applies to designs that are duly registered with the Industrial Property Registry (the Registry) by the National Intellectual Property Centre of Georgia the Sakpatenti, or to designs that fall within the scope of international registration.

3. Designs that are not registered with the Sakpatenti, or for which international registration does not apply, are protected in accordance with the Law of Georgia on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights.

 

Article 2 - Definition of terms

Terms used in this Law have the following meanings:

a) the National Intellectual Property Centre the Sakpatenti (the Sakpatenti) - a legal entity under public law defined by the Patent Law of Georgia;

b) the International Bureau (IB) - the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO);

c) Paris Convention - the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property signed on 20 March 1883 (revised in Stockholm on 14 July 1967; amended on 28 September 1979);

c¹) Convention on International Exhibitions - Paris Convention on International Exhibitions of 22 November 1928;

d) designer - a natural person, who produces a design as a result of his/her intellectual and creative work;

e) co-designer - a natural person, who produces a design as a result of intellectual and creative work jointly with other natural person (persons);

f) design holder- a person, who has exclusive rights to a design and who is registered as a design holder by the Sakpatenti in the Registry ;

g) certificate - a document issued in the name of a design holder in accordance with this Law, certifying the registration of a design with the Sakpatenti at the moment of issuing a certificate;

h) applicant - a natural or legal person applying for the registration of a design;

i) application - a set of documents necessary for the registration of a design in accordance with this Law;

j) the Hague Agreement - the Hague Act of November 28, 1960 of the Hague Agreement and/or the Geneva Act of July 2, 1999 on International Registration of Industrial Designs.

k) international design - a design registered by the International Bureau with a request to apply appropriate rights in the territory of Georgia in accordance with the Hague Agreement;

l) international classification of designs - an international classification established by the Locarno Agreement on establishing international classification for industrial designs signed on October 8, 1968.

m) priority - a preference that is given to an application as compared with one that has been submitted earlier ;

n) convention priority - a priority established in accordance with Article 4 of the Paris Convention, which may be used by the applicant in other member countries to the Paris Convention or the World Trade Organisation;

o) exhibition priority - a priority established in accordance with Article 11 of the Paris Convention, which may be used by the applicant in other member countries to the Paris Convention or the World Trade Organisation;

p) Chamber of Appeals - the Chamber of Appeals under the auspices of the Sakpatenti, defined by the Patent Law of Georgia.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 3 - Design and its protection criteria

1. A design is an expression of a whole product or a part thereof, consisting of features of a product, such as lines, contours, colours, shapes, texture or/and materials, or of decorations thereof.

2. A product is any industrial piece of work or article of craftsmanship, including materials for packaging and decoration, as well as graphical symbols, typographic fonts, and component elements to be incorporated into the complex of a product, except for software.

3. A complex of products is a product that consists of multiple elements, which may be replaced by disassembling and reassembling the product .

4. A design may be protected if it has novelties and is unique in its nature.

5. A design may be construed as having novelties, if there are no identical designs that have become publicly available before the date of filing an application and before the priority date.

6. In addition to the circumstances specified in Article 6 of this Law, when determining the novelty of a design, a design submitted to Sakpatenti, which has an earlier priority, but was published after the filing of the application for the design, the novelty of which is being determined, shall also be considered publicly available. The rule shall also apply to a design registered with the International Bureau, for which the extension of protection in the territory of Georgia is requested.

7. Designs shall be construed as identical even if they are differentiated by minimal details.

8. A design may be construed as individual, if the common impression that it makes on an informed user differs from the common impression that is made on the same user by another design that has become publicly available before an application is filed or a priority date is determined.

9. When assessing an individual feature of a design, a degree of freedom of the designer at the time of creating a design shall be taken into consideration.

10. A design, incorporated in or used for a product, which is a part of a complex product, shall be regarded as new and individual if it is visible in a complex product during its normal use and if visible features meet the criteria of novelties and individuality.

11. For the purposes of this article, normal use means the use by end users, except for maintenance works, general servicing and repair works.

Law of Georgia No 3279 of 2 July 2010 - LHG I, No 37 14. 7. 2010, Art.220

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 4 - Legal protection of designs

1. Legal protection of designs is determined on the basis of their image.

2. Legal protection does not apply to a word or sequence of words incorporated into the design.

3. Legal protection applies to any design that does not make a different overall impression on an informed user.

4. When determining the scope of legal protection of a design, the degree of freedom of a designer at the time of creating the design shall be taken into consideration.

 

Article 5 - Origination of exclusive rights to designs and their validity

1. Exclusive rights to designs shall originate from the date of filing an application if it is registered with the Sakpatenti as well as in accordance with this Law, and by way of international registration on the basis of the Hague Agreement.

2. A certificate shall be issued for a design registered with the Sakpatenti..

3. An Applicant may register a design with the Sakpatenti for one or several periods of 5 years, but not for more than 25 years from the date of filing an application with the Sakpatenti.

 

Article 6 - Disclosure of designs

1. A design shall be regarded as publicly available if it has been published, exhibited, used in the course of trade or made public in any other way before filing an application or before its priority date.

2. A design shall not be regarded as publicly available, despite provisions determined in paragraph 1 of this article, if:

a) actions provided for by paragraph 1 of this article could not have become publicly known for persons acting in the relevant field in the territory of Georgia;

b) information on a design is disclosed to a third person directly or indirectly under conditions of confidentiality.

3. Information on a design shall not be construed as disclosed if it has been made available to the public within 12 months prior to the date of filing an application or before the priority date:

a) by a designer or his/her successor by way of disclosing information on a design;

b) by disclosing information about the design by a third party, if the information became available to the third party as a result of the designer or his/her successor providing this information to him/her or as a result of other actions taken by the designer or his/her successor towards the third party by which he/she received the said information;

c) by a third person as a result of an act of bad faith conducted against a designer or his/her legal successor.

Law of Georgia No 3279 of 2 July 2010 - LHG I, No 37, 14. 7. 2010, Art.220

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 7 - Designs which are solely dictated by their technical functions and designs of interconnections

1. Protection shall not be applied to those features of design which are:

a) solely dictated by their technical function;

b) necessarily produced in designs exactly in such forms and dimensions so as to allow the product, in which the design is incorporated or for which it is applied, to be mechanically connected to another product or to be placed inside, around or opposite another product, so that each product has an equal opportunity to perform its function.

2. Paragraph 1(b) of this article shall not apply to a design, which allows multiple assembling or linking of mutually interchangeable products within a modular system.

Article 8 - Relations between co-designers

Relations between co-designers shall be defined by an agreement concluded between them. In the absence of an agreement, co-designers may enjoy common and equal rights.

 

Article 9 - Rights to register designs

1. A designer or his/her legal successor may file an application, except for the cases provided for by this article.

2. The right to file an application for a design created by several persons may be exercised either by all co-designers jointly or by each co-designer individually in the case of a written approval of other co-designers, unless otherwise provided for by an agreement concluded between the co-designers.

3. If creation of a design is related to the fulfilment of official duties and/or orders by an employee and/or a contractor, the right to file an application for the design created by an employee and/or a contractor shall belong to the employer and/or client, unless otherwise provided for by an agreement.

4. If creation of a design is not related to the fulfilment of official duties and/or orders by an employee and/or a contractor, but the employee and/or a contractor has used resources in the ownership of the employer and/or client for creating the design, the right to register such design shall belong to the employer and/or client.

5. In the cases provided for by paragraph 4 of this article, an employee/contractor may obtain a royalty-free, non-exclusive, private licence for a design, and/or a pre-emptive right to purchase exclusive rights deriving from the design, unless otherwise provided for by an agreement.

6. If two or more persons have created one and the same design independently, exclusive right to the design shall belong to the applicant whose application for the registration of a design has an earlier priority date.

7. If one and the same priority is established for several applications for identical designs, the right to register a design shall be granted to the person (persons) specified in the applicants' agreement. If the parties fail to reach an agreement, the dispute shall be resolved by a court.

 

Article 10 - Grounds for refusal to register a design

A design shall not be registered if:

a) it does not meet requirements of Article 3(1) of this Law;

b) it is identical to an earlier design, the application for which has been filed with the Sakpatenti or which has been registered in the International Bureau with a request to apply its protection in the territory of Georgia and if it has been published before filing the application for the mentioned design or before the priority date;

b) it is identical to an earlier design, which has been published after filing an application for a design or after the priority date, but the application of which has been filed with the Sakpatenti or which has been registered in the International Bureau with a request to apply its protection in the territory of Georgia before the date mentioned above;

d) its registration disturbs the public order or the recognised moral principles;

e) it coincides in whole or in part with a symbol that is not subject to registration under Article 6ter of the Paris Convention, and there is no appropriate permission from the relevant competent authority in Georgia and/or abroad;

f) it coincides, in whole or in part, with the coat of arms, flag, emblem or sign of an international organisation or the coat of arms, flag or emblem of a state body or municipal body of Georgia, which is not protected by Article 6ter of the Paris Convention, but there is a public interest in it on the territory of Georgia, and there is no consent to its use from the owner of the sign and/or the relevant competent authority of Georgia and/or abroad;

g) the design or its constituent element depicts an appellation of origin or geographical indication of the goods, which has been granted protection in the territory of Georgia on the basis of local registration, bilateral or international agreement.

Law of Georgia No 3279 of 2 July 2010 - LHG I, No 37, 14. 7. 2010, Art.220

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Chapter II - Filing, Examining and Registering Applications

 

Article 11 - Application

1. An applicant or his/her representative shall file an application with the Sakpatenti.

2. If an applicant is a legal successor of a designer, a document certifying the authority of the legal successor shall be attached to the application immediately after the application is filed or within two months after the filing of the application.

3. If an application has been filed by a representative of the applicant, a document certifying the authority of the representative shall be attached to the application immediately after the application is filed or within two months after filing the application.

4. An application shall include:

a) a statement on the registration of a design(the Statement);

b) an image of the design .

5. An application may include a description of explanatory character only.

6. Applications are filed with the Sakpatenti by submitting application documents directly or in any other way.

7. Applications are deemed to be filed from the moment when the statement thereof and the image of the design are presented.

8. Application forms and procedures related to filing applications are defined by the instructions (the Instructions) for the registration of designs.

 

Article 12 - Applications for multiple designs, unification and division of applications

1. An application may include one or several designs, if all designs included in an application belong to the same class of international classification of designs (Applications for Multiple Designs).

2. Applicants may:

a) unify applications and file a unified application, if designs included in it belong to the same class of an international classification of designs (Unified Application);

b) divide a filed application into separate divisional applications; (Divisional Application).

3. Each design included in an application for multiple designs or in a unified application shall be considered separately and shall be the subject of separate protection.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 13 - Priority

1. An applicant willing to enjoy the convention priority right shall file an application with the Sakpatenti within six months after the date of filing the first application for this design with an appropriate authority of the country that is a member the Paris Convention or the World Trade Organisation.

2. An applicant who wishes to benefit from exhibition priority is obliged to submit an application to Sakpatenti within 6 months from the date of exhibition of the design at an official or officially recognised international exhibition organised in a country that is a member of the Paris Convention or the World Trade Organisation.

3. Convention and exhibition priorities shall not extend each-other's term .

4. In the cases provided for by Article 12 (1) and (2) of this Law, an applicant may claim priority for each particular design, of which the applicant has the ownership right.

5. The priority of an application shall not be established for the date of filing an application on which an earlier priority has been previously claimed.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 14 - Examination of applications

1. The Sakpatenti conducts examination of applications, on the basis of which it makes a decision on the registration of a design.

2. The examination includes verifying the date of filing application, examining formal requirements and conducting a substantive examination.

 

Article 15 - Verification of the date of filing applications

1. The Sakpatenti shall verify the date of filing an application within two weeks after the application is filed.

2. If it is found that any application material under Article 11(4) of this Law is lacking, the applicant shall submit the aforementioned application material within one month after receiving notification thereof.

3. If the applicant meets the requirements under paragraph 2 of this article, the date of filing the application shall be construed as the date of fulfilling the mentioned requirement. Otherwise, the application shall be construed as not filed.

 

Article 16 - Examination of formal requirements

1. After the verification of the date of filing of an application, the Sakpatenti shall conduct the examination of formal requirements, during which completeness of the application, correctness of registration and compliance with requirements under Article 12 of this Law shall be assessed.

2. The Sakpatenti shall conduct an examination of formal requirements within one month after the date of filing an application is verified.

3. On the basis of examination of formal requirements the Sakpatenti shall make a decision on the completion of examination of formal requirements or on the termination of processing the application and shall inform the applicant thereon.

 

Article 17 - Substantive examination

1. The Sakpatenti shall conduct a substantive examination within 3 months after completing the examination of formal requirements, which ensures examination of the compliance of a design with the requirements of Article 10 of this Law and examinations with regard to identifying novelties.

2. When identifying novelties in accordance with Article 10 (b) and (c) of this Law, the Sakpatenti shall take into consideration those designs for which applications have already been filed with the Sakpatenti and which have been registered by the International Bureau with a request to apply rights in the territory of Georgia.

3. When identifying novelties, a design identified as a result of examinations conducted in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article and which meets the condition under Article 6 (5)(a) of this Law, shall not be considered.

4. On the basis of the substantive examination, the Sakpatenti shall make a decision to register a design or to refuse the registration of a design.

5. In the cases provided for by Article 12 (1) and (2) of this Law, the Sakpatenti may make a positive decision concerning some of the designs included in the application.

 

Article 18 - Extension and restoration of procedural terms

1. In the course of processing applications, the applicant may, in accordance with established rules, require:

a) changes and/or amendments to the submitted application documents, provided the scope of protection of a design is not changed by taking such actions;

b) postponing of the publication of designs for not more than 30 months after the filing an application for design or from the priority date. In the case of filing applications for multiple designs, the request to postpone publication may apply to all and each design included in the application ;

c) termination of the process of considering applications;

d) extending the term for responding to requirements made by the Sakpatenti ;

e) restoration of the rights related to the application that have been deprived due to the violation of the terms.

2. Procedures for the implementation of actions mentioned in paragraph 1 of this article shall be determined by the Instructions.

Law of Georgia No 3279 of 2 July 2010 - LHG I, No 37, 14. 7. 2010, Art.220

 

Article 19 - Publication of designs

1. The Sakpatenti, in the case of a positive decision to register a design, shall publish application data and an image of the design in the official bulletin of industrial property (the Bulletin) as provided for in the Instruction.

2. If a negative decision of the examination regarding the registration of a design is repealed by a positive judgement at law, the Sakpatenti shall publish application data and an image of the design in the Bulletin as provided for in the Instruction .

3. The Sakpatenti shall not publish the name of a designer unless it is requested by the designer.

 

Article 20 - Grounds for filing an appeal with the Chamber of Appeals

1. The applicant may file an appeal with the Chamber of Appeals with respect to the decisions made by the Sakpatenti on the completion of the examination of formal requirements or on terminating the process of processing an application, as well as with respect to a decision of the substantive examination refusing to register a design.

2. A concerned party may appeal a decision of the substantive examination refusing to register a design to the Chamber of Appeals in the case of violating requirements of Article 17 of this Law.

3. A person referred to in paragraph 6 of Article 29 of this Law shall have the right to appeal the decision of the substantive examination on the registration of a design to the Appeals Chamber if there are grounds specified in paragraph 1 of the same Article.

4. In the case of applications for multiple designs or applications for unified designs, the appeal may apply to one or several designs included in such applications.

4¹. In the event of the invalidation of the substantive examination decision on design registration on the grounds specified in Article 29 (1) (b), (e) or (f) of this Law, the design may be registered in an amended form if the amended design meets the criteria for protection and the essence of the original design is preserved.

4². A design can be registered in a modified form:

a) based on the applicant's statement, by which he/she refuses to extend the protection to a part of the design;

b) by entering in the registry data or application the decision of the court, the Appeals Chamber or the design re-examination body by which the design registration was partially declared invalid.

5. An appeal may be filed with the Chamber of Appeals within three months after publishing/submitting a decision thereon.

6. The Chamber of Appeals shall consider an appeal in the prescribed manner within three mounts after the appeal is filed.

7. A decision of the Chamber of Appeals may be appealed in court within the period prescribed by law.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 21 - Registration of designs

1. If an appeal is not filed with the Chamber of Appeals within the period established by Article 20(5) of this Law, or if the Chamber of Appeals makes a decision to register a design on the basis of the filed appeal, the Sakpatenti shall register the design in the Registry in accordance with the Instructions.

2. The Sakpatenti shall publish data on the registered design in the Bulletin and issue a certificate.

3. The Sakpatenti shall establish the form of a certificate and data to be included in the Registry.

4. Registry data are available for any concerned person.

 

Article 21¹ - Preliminary search

1. Any person concerned shall have the right to apply to Sakpatenti for a preliminary search service in order to determine whether an identical design is protected in Georgia through registration with Sakpatenti or through the extension of the validity of an international design registration to Georgia.

2. Sakpatenti shall conduct the preliminary search and notify the person concerned of its results within 10 working days from the payment of the prescribed fee for the preliminary search service.

3. The procedure for conducting a preliminary search shall be determined by an instruction.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 22 - Accelerated procedure for the registration of designs

1. The rule established by Chapter II of this Law shall apply to the accelerated procedure of the registration of designs, unless otherwise provided for by this article.

2. An applicant may request an accelerated examination upon filing an application or within one month after filing an application.

3. An application regarding a request to conduct an accelerated examination shall be accompanied by all documents provided for by Article 11 of this Law and the fee prescribed for the procedure of accelerated registration of a design shall be paid.

4. If the applicant intends to use the priorities defined by Article 13(1) and (2) of this Law, the application regarding a request to conduct an accelerated examination shall be accompanied by a document certifying eligibility to request a priority and the fee prescribed for requesting the priority shall be paid.

5. The Sakpatenti shall check within three days after the request to conduct the accelerated examination is made whether the requirements of paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 of this article are met. If any document provided for by paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 of this article is missing from the application materials, the applicant shall submit this document within 15 days. Otherwise the Sakpatenti shall make a decision to refuse to conduct an accelerated examination and shall consider the application as provided for by Chapter II of this Law.

6. If an application regarding a request to conduct an accelerated examination meets requirements of paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 of this article, the Sakpatenti shall conduct the substantive examination provided for by Article 17 of this Law within seven working days and in the case of a positive decision, the Sakpatenti shall register the design in the Registry, publish data on the registered design in the Bulletin and issue a certificate.

7. Any concerned person may file an appeal with the Chamber of Appeals as provided for by Article 20 of this Law within three months after data on the registration of a design is published.

8. If an application with earlier priority is filed with the Sakpatenti after the registration of a design through the accelerated procedure, and if there are grounds to refuse to register an application as provided for by Article 10(b) and (c) of this Law with regard to the design registered through the accelerated procedure, the Sakpatenti shall make a decision to revoke the registration of a design through the accelerated procedure and shall publish the data in the Bulletin.

9. The decision provided for by paragraph 8 of this article to revoke the registration of the design through the accelerated procedure, may be appealed in the manner established by Article 20(1) of this Law.

 

Article 22¹ - Re-examination of the design

1. The party shall concerned shall have the right, during the term of validity of the design registration, to request the re-examination of the design on one of the following grounds:

a) the design is represented only by those signs that are provided for by Article 7 (1) of this Law;

b) when registering the design, any of the grounds provided for by Article 10 of this Law existed;

c) the design does not meet the requirements of Article 3 (4-10) of this Law;

d) design registration infringes the copyright of a third party;

e) the design uses a distinctive symbol and the owner of the right to it, in accordance with the relevant legislation, is entitled to prohibit such use of the distinctive symbol.

2. The application for re-examination of a design must be accompanied by:

a) written justification that the design registration is subject to invalidation;

b) a copy of all previously issued registrations, publications or other relevant documents on which the party concerns relies in substantiation. In addition, if the documents provided for in this subparagraph are submitted in a foreign language, the party concerned is obliged to submit their notarised Georgian translation within 1 month. Otherwise, documents submitted in a foreign language shakk not be considered.

3. The design owner shall have the right to submit a written response within 2 weeks of the submission of the application for re-examination of the design, which shall be taken into account during the re-examination of the design.

4. Based on the re-examination of the design, Sakpatenti shall make a decision to refuse to invalidate the design registration or to fully or partially invalidate the design registration.

5. Data on the full or partial invalidation of a design registration shall be published in the Bulletin and entered in the Register.

6. A re-examination of a design may also be requested after the cancellation of a design registration or the expiration of its registration.

7. In the event of invalidation of the design registration on the grounds provided for in paragraph 1 (b), (d) or (e) of this Article, it is possible to maintain the registration of the design in a modified form in accordance with the procedure established in Article 20 (4²) of this Law, if the modified design meets the criteria for protection and the essence of the original design is preserved.

8. The procedure for conducting a design re-examination shall be determined by the instruction.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 23 - Service fee

1. A fee established in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of Georgia shall be paid for the examination of formal requirements, the examination of the substance, the publication and registration of a design, the conduct of an accelerated examination, the conduct of a re-examination of a design, the maintenance of the validity of a design registration for every 5 years, the provision of a preliminary search service, the filing of an appeal, the introduction of changes in the registry data and the implementation of other actions related to the legal protection of a design.

2. Failure to pay fees specified in paragraph 1 of this article within the period fixed shall result in the termination of processing applications

3. Types and amount of fees are determined by an Ordinance of the Government of Georgia.

4. Forms and procedures for paying fees are determined by the Instructions.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Chapter II - International Designs

 

Article 24 - Validity of an International Design registration in the territory of Georgia

International designs, registration of which is valid in the territory of Georgia, has the same legal force as a design registered in Georgia.

 

Article 24¹ - Filing an application with the International Bureau through Sakpatenti

1. An applicant shall have the right to submit an application for international registration of a design to the International Bureau through Sakpatenti.

2. The conditions for submitting the application provided for in paragraph 1 of this article shall be determined by the instruction.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 25 - International design examination

1. Articles 10, 12, 17, 19 and 20, Article 28 (except for Article 28 (1)(c)) and Articles 29-30¹ of this Law shall apply to international designs.

2. If a design does not meet requirements for registration as defined by this Law, the Sakpatenti shall refuse to apply the validity of registration of an international design in the territory of Georgia within the term established by the Hague Agreement, and shall notify the international bureau of this fact.

3. The norms of the Hague Agreement shall apply to the validity of registration and prolongation of the validity of registration of International Designs.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

 

Chapter IV - Exclusive Rights to Designs

 

Article 26 - Scopes of exclusive rights to designs

1. A design is the disposal of the design holder. He/she may sell or dispose of a design in any other form and grant a private licence for the use of the design in an established manner.

2. After registering a design, its holder, with regard to a product into which his/her design is incorporated or for which it is applied, shall be granted exclusive rights to permit to or prohibit the manufacture, sale, offer for sale, use, import, export or placing a product in the course of trade by some other manner, and to keep such product for these purposes.

2¹. In the event of postponement of publication of the design provided for in Article 18(1)(b) of this Law, the owner of the design shall have the right to prohibit the actions specified in paragraph 2 of this article only if the disputed use of the design is the result of the reproduction of the registered design. The disputed action shall not be considered as the reproduction of the registered design if it is the result of the independent creation of a third party to whom this design was not available.

3. If a design is owned by more than one person:

a) the transfer of rights, or granting a private licence is permitted only with the consent of all design holders;

b) each design holder may use the registered design in his/her enterprise without the consent of the other design holders.

4. From the date of publishing an application until the date of its registration, the applicant may conditionally enjoy the rights that shall be granted to him/her after registration. Without the registration said rights shall not be construed as having been originated.

5. Depending on the design registration, the following shall not be construed as an infringement of exclusive rights:

a) spreading a product after it is put in the course of trade, into which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied and which is manufactured by a design holder or with his/her consent, and use thereof in any other manner;

b) using a design for the personal use, provided such action is not intended for commercial purposes;

c) using a design for experimental purposes;

d) copying a design, which is made for the purpose of citation or teaching, provided that such copying is not construed as an act of bad faith and does not prejudice the normal use of the design and provided that the source is correctly indicated;

e) using a design on board a sea vessel, or on board an aircraft or any land vehicle of any country when it is temporarily staying in the territory of Georgia; In this case, the design may be used only for the specified vehicle and not for entrepreneurial purposes;

e¹) using a design when importing spare parts and accessories to Georgia for the purpose of repairing a sea vessel, aircraft or land vehicle as provided for in subparagraph (e) of this paragraph;

e²) using a design when carrying out repair work on a seagoing vessel, air vehicle or land vehicle referred to in subparagraph (e) of this paragraph.

f) using a design in the case of Acts of God (force majeure) defined by the legislation of Georgia.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 26¹ - Right to be named as the designer and co-designer

1. The designer and co-designer shall be entitled to be named in the application and in the register in the same manner as is provided for the indication of the applicant and the owner of the design.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 27 - Rights of prior use

1. The right of prior use is the right of a person to use a design irrespective of its registration validity, provided he/she has used the design in good faith, or carried out preparatory works for its use prior to filing an application with the Sakpatenti or before the date of priority.

2. The right of prior use gives a third person the right to use a design only for the purpose, or to the extent for which the third person has already used it, or has carried out preparatory works prior to filing an application with the Sakpatenti or before the date of priority.

3. A private licence may not be issued for the right of prior use. .

4. The right of prior use may be transferred only jointly with such enterprise, where the actions provided for by paragraph 2 of this article have been carried out.

Law of Georgia No 3279 of 2 July 2010 - LHG I, No 37, 14. 7. 2010, Art.220

 

Article 28 - Revocation of the design registration

1. The Sakpatenti shall revoke a design registration :

a) on the basis of an application of the design holder;

b) in case of failure to pay the fee for the extension of the validity period of the design registration by the design owner, if the period provided for in paragraph 2 of this article has expired;

c) on the basis of Article 22(8) of this Law;

d) in the event of the death of the design owner - a natural person, if he/she has no heir, or in the event of the liquidation of the design owner - a legal person, if there is no legal successor.

2. In the case provided for in subparagraph (b) of paragraph 1 of this article, the design registration shall not be considered cancelled if the design owner pays the fee for the validity period of his/her registration for the subsequent period within 6 months from the date of expiry of the validity period of the design registration, and in addition, 25 years have not passed since the date of commencement of the validity period of the design registration. In case of exceeding the 6-month period specified in this paragraph, the design registration shall be cancelled from the date of expiry of the validity period of its registration, without the right to its restoration.

2¹. If there are several owners of a design, the registration of the design shall be cancelled on the basis of subparagraph (a) of paragraph 1 of this article with the consent of all owners of the design.

2². Cancellation of a design registration may affect one or more designs covered by a multiple application.

2³. If a license issued for a design is registered in the register, the design owner's request for cancellation of the design registration may be granted only if he /she provides evidence that he/she has notified the licensee of his/her decision.

3. As a result of the cancellation of the design registration, the rights granted by the design registration shall be deemed terminated from the date of entry in the register of the cancellation of the design registration, except for the cases provided for in paragraph 2 of this article.

4. Information on the cancellation of a design registration shall be entered in the register and published in the bulletin.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 29 - Invalidation of the design registration

1. A design registration shall be invalidated by a court if it is determined that:

a) a design is represented only by the features that comply with Article 7(1) of this Law;

b) at the time of registration of the design, any of the grounds provided for in Article 10 of this Law existed;

c) a design does not meet requirements of Article 3(4) and (10) of this Law;

d) an applicant or a design holder were not eligible persons in accordance with Article 8 and Article 9 of this Law;

e) design registration infringes the copyright of a third party;

f) the design uses a distinctive symbol and the owner of the right to it, in accordance with the relevant legislation, is entitled to prohibit such use of the distinctive symbol;

g) a design has been registered in bad faith.

2. In the case provided for in subparagraph (d) of paragraph 1 of this article, the person concerned may, instead of declaring the design registration invalid, request the transfer of the rights granted by/arising from the design registration. If the person concerned is entitled to be designated as a co-applicant, he/she may request co-ownership of the design.

3. Invalidation of a design registration may be requested after the cancellation of the design registration or the expiration of its registration, except for the cases provided for by paragraph 4 of this article.

4. A request for invalidation of a design registration based on subparagraph (d) of paragraph 1 of this article shall be admissible within 3 years from the publication of the design. The aforementioned limitation period shall not apply to cases where a person who was not an authorised person at the time of registration of the design acted in bad faith at the time of filing the application or obtaining rights to the design.

5. In the case of a multiple application or a combined application, an action for invalidation of a design registration may concern one or more designs.

6. On the basis of paragraph 1 of this article, the following persons may request the invalidation of the design registration:

a) on the basis of subparagraphs (a), (b), (c) or (g) - by the person concerned;

b) on the basis of subparagraph (d) - only by the person who is an authorised person in accordance with Articles 8 and 9 of this Law;

c) on the basis of subparagraph (e) - only by the copyright holder;

d) on the basis of subparagraph (f) - only by the holder of the right to a distinctive symbol.

7. In the event of a change in the owner of a design pursuant to subparagraph (d) of paragraph 1 of this article, all previously issued licences and other rights to the design shall be deemed revoked from the moment of entry of data on the authorised owner of the design in the register.

8. If, prior to the filing of an action for invalidation of the design registration pursuant to subparagraph (d) of paragraph 1 of this article, the owner or licensee of the design has started using the design or has carried out significant and effective preparatory work for the start of its use, he/she shall be entitled to request a non-exclusive private licence from the new owner of the design within 3 months from the date of entry of data on the design in the register. The licence shall be issued for the period necessary to fulfill the obligations existing prior to the filing of the said action, within the limits of the authority with which the previous owner or licensee of the design carried out the activity prior to the filing of the action.

9. Paragraph 8 of this article shall not apply if the unauthorised owner or licensee of the design acted with bad faith when starting to use the design or when carrying out preparatory work for starting to use it.

10. As a result of the invalidation of a design registration, the rights granted by registration shall be deemed terminated from the date of origin of these rights to the design, unless another date is specified in the final court decision.

11. In the event of invalidation of the design registration on the grounds provided for in subparagraphs (b), € or (f) of paragraph 1 of this article, it is possible to maintain the registration of the design in an amended form in accordance with the procedure established by Article 20 (4¹ and 4²) of this Law.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 29¹ - Retroactive effect of a decision on invalidation of a design registration

A decision to invalidate a design registration shall not have retroactive effect:

a) if a court decision on infringement of exclusive rights to a design entered into force before the decision to invalidate the registration of the same design entered into legal force;

b) in respect of a transaction concluded and executed before the decision to invalidate the registration of a design provided for in subparagraph (a) of this article entered into legal force.

Law of Georgia No 1029 of 11 November 2025 – website, 17.11.2025

 

Article 30 - Penalties for the infringement of exclusive rights to a design

Manufacturing, selling, using, importing, or putting into the course of trade a product in which the design is incorporated or for which it is applied, or keeping such product for these purposes, and/or disclosing its essence deliberately (except for disclosure made by the designer) without permission of the design holder before the Sakpatenti publishes data concerning the design, or assuming powers of a designer shall entail liabilities provided for by the legislation of Georgia.

 

Article 30¹ – Protection of exclusive rights to a design

1. In the case of infringement of exclusive rights to a design, a holder of exclusive rights to a design shall be entitled to require:

a) the prohibition of the actions provided for by Article 26 (2) of this Law;

b) the removal from the civil circulation of a product incorporated in the civil circulation through the infringement of exclusive rights to a design, or imported into or stored (placed for storage) in the territory of Georgia for the purpose of incorporation into the civil circulation, in which the design is incorporated and for which it is used.

c) the destruction of a product incorporated in the civil circulation through the infringement of exclusive rights to a design, in which a design is incorporated or for which it is used;

d) the destruction of any image, label, printout, packaging, or advertising material that contains or is a copy or imitation of the image of the design, including the removal of such material or image placed in the internet that contains the image of the design;

e) the destruction of a cliche, matrix, other devices, technical equipment and weapons designated for the manufacture of a product in which the design is incorporated or for which it is used.

2. A holder of exclusive rights to a design shall be authorised, at his/her discretion, to request the simultaneous execution of several of the actions referred to in paragraph 1 of this article.

3. The action provided for by paragraph 1(a) of this article may also be carried out in relation to a person, based on the request of the holder of exclusive rights to a design and based on the court decision, who was aware or should have been aware that the services had been used or was used for the infringement on the commercial scale of exclusive rights to a design.

4. In special cases, the court shall be entitled, by the request of the person infringing exclusive rights to a design, in exchange of carrying out the actions provided for by paragraph 1(b)(e) of this article, to impose a monetary compensation, if he/she has acted negligently or he/she incurred disproportionate damage in comparison with the estimated infringement through the use of relevant provision measures, however, if the amount of monetary compensation determined by a court for the holder of exclusive rights to a design, is acceptable.

5) In the case of the infringement of rights to a design, the holder of exclusive rights to a design shall be entitled, in addition to the action provided for by paragraph 1 of this article, to request one of the following actions:

a) compensation for damages (including the unearned income) if the violator of exclusive rights to a design was aware or should have been aware of the infringement of exclusive rights to a design;

b) seizure of the proceeds from the infringement of exclusive rights to a design of the violator of exclusive rights to a design in favour of the holder of exclusive rights to a design;

c) the payment of the one-off compensation.

6. While determining the volume of damages, the idea of the infringement of exclusive rights to a design, the proceeds from the infringement of exclusive rights to a design, the property and non-property damage incurred by a holder of exclusive rights to a design, as well as the estimated proceeds which might have been earned by a holder of exclusive rights to a design through the lawful use of the design, shall be taken into account.

7. The one-off monetary compensation shall be determined by not less than the amount which might have been paid by a violator of exclusive rights to a design when obtaining the permit for the use of the design.

8. During the determination of the one-off monetary compensation, the quantity of products used without the approval from the design holder, in which the design is incorporated and for which the products are used, the intention of the violator of exclusive rights to a design, the scale, character shall be taken into account, as well as other features of services which are offered through the infringement of exclusive rights to a design, and/or any other circumstance, which may be taken into account during the determination of the amount of compensation.

Law of Georgia N 1920 of 23 December 2017 – website, 11.1.2018

 

Article 31 - Transfer of rights to a design

1. Exclusive rights to a design shall be transferred on the basis of a written agreement.

2. An agreement for the transfer of exclusive rights to a design, as well as amendments made therein, shall be duly registered with the Registry and appropriate data shall be published in the Bulletin.

3. A new design holder may not use rights deriving from the design registration against a third person before appropriate amendments are registered with the Registry.

 

Article 32 - Private licence for the use of a design

1. A design holder may grant a private licence for the use of a design.

2. The private licence is not a licence under the Law of Georgia on Licences and Permits.

3. A private licence agreement shall be entered into in writing. The scopes of design shall be determined in the private licence.

4. A private licence may be exclusive or non-exclusive. If a private licence agreement does not define the type of licence, the private licence shall be construed as non-exclusive.

5. Granting a non-exclusive private licence shall not deprive the licensor of the right to grant other licences under the same conditions.

6. Granting an exclusive private licence shall deprive the licensor of the right to grant other licences under the same conditions.

7. A private license holder may file an action in a court for infringement of rights deriving from the design registration, unless the design holder files an action in a court himself/herself within a reasonable time after being notified of the infringement of rights.

8. A private licence agreement and amendments made thereto may be registered with the Registry.

9. If a private licence agreement provides for restrictions related to the creation, dissemination and/or export of a design only in a specified market, an appropriate indication shall be made on the product label. If there is no such indication, restrictions provided for by the private licence agreement shall not apply to third parties.

 

Article 33 - Conflicts of interest

1. Applications may not be filed by:

a) natural persons who currently work in the Sakpatenti or who have been working in the Sakpatenti for 12 months before filing the application;

b) legal persons, in which persons provided for by sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph are members, partners, shareholders or managers.

2. A person who has been directly involved in the process of making a decision regarding the registration of a design which has been appealed, may not be a member of the Chamber of Appeals when hearing a legal dispute on the registration of a design.

 

Chapter V - Transitional Provisions

 

Article 34 - Application of the norms of this Law to previous relations

1. With regard to the creation, registration, use, and legal protection of designs, this Law shall apply to relations, which:

a) have arisen after the entry of this Law into force ;

a) have been validated on the date of entry of this Law into force.

2. Applications that are pending processing in the Sakpatenti on the date of entry of this Law into force, shall be reviewed in the manner provided for by the Patent Law of Georgia of 5 February 1999. (Legislative Herald of Georgia No 5(12), 1999, Art.21).

 

Article 35 - Measures related to the entry of this Law into force

The Sakpatenti shall issue an Instruction on the registration of a design.

Law of Georgia No 3742 of 26 October 2010 - LHG I, No 62, 5.11.2010, Art. 382

 

Chapter VI - Final Provisions

 

Article 36 - Entry of this Law into force

This Law shall enter into force one month after its promulgation.

 

 

President of Georgia                                           M. Saakashvili

 

Tbilisi,

4 May 2010

No 3030–I ს