– Law No. 129/1992 for the Protection of Industrial Designs, last amended on June 4, 2014.

– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act.
– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since April 26, 1970.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since January 1, 1995.
– Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs, since June 30, 1998.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since March 16, 2001.
– Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, Stockholm Act, and Geneva Act since December 23, 2003.

Applicant: the creator of the design or his legal successor. Where the author is an employee, the employer benefits from the protection conferred by the law if an employment agreement has been concluded whereby the employee shall expressly perform such creative or research activities for the employer.

Applicant not living in the country: must appoint a representative residing in Romania.

Filing Office: State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (in Romanian: OSIM). 

Kind of protection: certificate of registration of design, protecting the appearance of a product or of a part thereof, in two or three dimensions, resulting from the combination of the main features, particularly lines, outlines, colors, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation. The protection of an industrial design shall not exclude the benefit of protection conferred by the Copyright Law. 

Excluded from protection: designs (a) which appearance and destination are contrary to law or morality; (b) which contain the name of a state, official or historical flags or emblems of a state except with the approval of the authorities; (c) which appearance is determined by a technical function, even if it is new; (d) which contain images of personalities without their consent; (e) which contain marks registered in Romania without the owner’s consent.

Novelty: worldwide. An industrial design shall be regarded as novel if it is new and has an individual character (new: it was not made available to the public at home or abroad, in respect of the same category of products, prior to the date of the regular deposit of the application or the recognized priority date; individual character: the general impression it produces on the informed user differs from that produced by any other design made available to the public before the filing or priority date).

Series application: up to 100 designs may be combined in one application provided they fall within the same class of goods.

Priority: priority term of six months (as well as the exhibition priority).

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. An application comprising the personal particulars of the applicant and of the author and the indication of the article or articles in which the industrial design is intended to be incorporated;
2. A short description of the drawings (max. 100 words);
3. 10 graphic representations (one on tracing cloth and 9 copies) size 6 x 6 cm or a multiple of this size, max. 18 x 24 cm;
4. If priority is claimed, the legal document and the necessary fee within three months from the date of filing the application;
5. Power of attorney (not notarized);
6. Assignment, in the case that the applicant in Romania is not the same as the author, notarized.

Electronic filing: available. 

Electronic signatures: are not accepted (only wet signatures).

For a change of name or address:
1. Bilingual Declaration of Change (not notarized) or any other document attesting the change, but with an additional fee for its translation;
2. Power of attorney (not notarized).

Examination: substantive examination is conducted.

Opposition: within two months from its publication anyone may contest the registration of an industrial design at the State Office.

Granting: the decision to accept or to reject an application is taken by the Board within six months from the publication of the application.

Publication: the application is published in the Official Bulletin of the State Office within six months from the date on which the regular deposit was made.

Registration of industrial designs: shall be made in the National Register of Industrial Designs and published in the Official Bulletin.

Beginning of protection: begins on the day on which the regular deposit was effected.

Delivery of document: the registration certificate is issued in paper format only.

Duration: ten years, three times renewable for successive periods of five years.

Renewal: can be applied for during the year preceding the due date or until six months afterwards with a fine.

Marking: the capital letter “D” inscribed in a circle accompanied by the owner’s name or the serial number of the certificate.

Transfer of rights: may be effected by assignment or by license. Transfers shall be binding on third parties as from the date on which they are registered at the State Office.

Nullification: annulment proceedings against a design right can be commenced ex officio if the design right seems obviously not novel or the product has no utilitarian function.

Infringement: an injunction and compensation for damages may be obtained through civil suits. If a complaint is lodged, imprisonment not exceeding three years may be imposed through criminal proceedings.

Sanctions: fines, damages, confiscation of the infringing products.