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Demokratiskolan
The Intellectual Property card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 35 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaKnowledge & technology
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence2 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Knowledge & technology

Intellectual Property

Patents, registered designs & copyright

Intellectual property decides who owns an idea: the patent on an invention, the copyright to a song, the protection of a trademark. The rules shape what may be copied, shared and sold, which is to say a large part of your digital everyday life. The municipality and the region have no power here, it is the central government and the EU that draw the map.

Where does the power lie?1

  • State · laws, patents, courts · approx 55 %
  • EU · directives, shared protections · approx 45 %

Power is shared between the Riksdag and the EU, where more and more of copyright is decided. The general election and the European Parliament election weigh almost equally here.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityOff the map
The regionOff the map
Central governmentThe legislator · centre of gravity
Who decides?
No formal role. The municipality enacts no rules on patents or copyright.
No formal role in the rules.
The Riksdag (Sweden's parliament) enacts the laws. PRV, the Swedish Intellectual Property Office, grants patents and registers trademarks and designs.
What do they decide?
No formal role, but schools and libraries handle copyright every day through licences for copying, film and music.
No formal role, but research in healthcare can lead to patents, and the regions manage trademarks of their own.
The Patents Act, the Copyright Act and the Trademarks Act. The Patent and Market Court decides disputes.
Where are decisions made?
In practice in the everyday life of schools and libraries, not in any decision-making rooms.
In research collaborations at the university hospitals.
In the Riksdag, at PRV and in court. Applications and rulings are public.
Who pays?
Municipal services pay licence fees, for example for copying in schools.
No regulatory costs, but licence and patent questions come up in operations.
Whoever seeks protection pays fees. Courts and legislation are paid for from the central government budget.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election No direct way here. Engagement on the issue is directed at the Riksdag and the EU.
Regional election No direct way. The issue is decided nationally and in the EU.
General election A referral response on legislative proposals, an objection to a patent or trademark at PRV.
EUCopyright directives, EU trademarks and a shared unitary patent make Brussels a co-legislator. The European Parliament election weighs heavily here.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case An invention becomes a patent
  1. EU

    Shared frameworks

    EU directives and international conventions harmonise the protection, so that a Swedish invention can be protected in many countries. The frameworks are in place before anyone applies.

  2. State

    The Riksdag enacts the Patents Act

    The Patents Act decides what can be patented and how long the protection lasts, up to twenty years. Changes are prepared by the Government and go out for a referral (remiss).

    Point of influence

    The general election steers the legislation, and referral responses on legislative proposals are open to all.

  3. State

    PRV examines the application

    The inventor submits an application to PRV, which tests whether the idea is new and inventive. The application is published so that others can scrutinise it.

    Point of influence

    Anyone can object to a patent that appears to have been granted on the wrong grounds.

  4. State

    Disputes are decided in court

    If someone copies the invention, or believes the patent should never have been granted, the Patent and Market Court settles the matter.

  5. Your everyday life

    The product reaches the shelf

    The protection gave the inventor the means to invest, and in twenty years anyone may build on the idea. That is how knowledge changes owner: first private, then everyone's.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. For how long is it reasonable that an idea is someone's property?

  2. What may a school show, copy and play, and what should it be allowed to?

  3. Patents are meant to reward inventors but can also hold others back. Where does the line go, in your view?

  4. What does copyright mean for what you yourself post online?

  5. Who gains the most from today's rules: creators, companies or users?

Glossary

Patent
An exclusive right for up to twenty years to exploit an invention, in exchange for it being made public.
Upphovsrätt
The creator's right to their work, applies automatically and for a long time after the creator's death.
Varumärke
A protected mark, such as a name or a logo, that distinguishes one product from others.
Mönsterskydd
Protection for a product's appearance and form, also called design protection.
Invändning
A formal objection to a granted patent or trademark, open to anyone.

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Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.