Hungary News Archives

April 26, 2012

HIPO and USPTO Make Patent Prosecution Highway Permanent

On April 5, the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) agreed to make permanent the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program, which was launched as a pilot program between the two offices in 2010.

The PPH enables each participating office to use the work already done by the other office, which avoids duplication of work and accelerates the patent granting procedure.

Author: Masa Lopicic

For more information, please contact mail@petosevic.com.

Source: HIPO; USPTO

February 23, 2012

Hungary, Austria, Romania to Establish Danube Patent Institute

Last month the heads of the Hungarian, Austrian and Romanian PTOs met to discuss the establishment of the regional, Central European patent institute in Budapest, to be called the Danube Patent Institute (DPI). According to the project plan, the DPI should become functional in 2013.

Ever since 2009, the Hungarian and the Austrian PTOs have been considering the possibility of establishing a patent institute in Central Europe that would serve as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty for international patent applications filed in the region. The idea is to encourage innovation, research and development in the region and make the search and examination process more efficient.

In April 2011, the two PTOs signed the Joint Declaration of Intent, and shortly thereafter the Romanian PTO also joined the initiative.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Hungarian PTO

December 27, 2011

Budapest to Become Home to Patent Judge Training Center?

The Hungarian capital of Budapest might become the center for training European Union’s patent judges, Economy Ministry State Secretary Zoltan Csefalvay announced at a press conference in Brussels on December 6.

Csefalvay stated that such a decision would be an acknowledgement of the work Hungary completed during the first half of 2011 when it held the rotating Presidency of the EU Council.

Even though it is very likely that the training center will be in Budapest, the decision will become final as soon as the EU chooses the headquarters of the unified patent court.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional office.

Source: BBJ – Budapest Business Journal

Changes in Individual Fee Under Hague Agreement for Hungary

The new individual fee payable when Hungary is designated in an international application under the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs will enter into force on January 1, 2012.

Filing an international application designating Hungary will cost CHF 84 (EUR 69; USD 90) for the first design and CHF 20 (EUR 16; USD 21) for each additional design.

The same fees will apply for renewals - CHF 84 (EUR 69; USD 90) for the first design and CHF 20 (EUR 16; USD 21) for each additional design.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: WIPO

October 28, 2011

Authorities Bust Largest Hungarian Movie Piracy Group

The Hungarian authorities have recently raided several premises and shut down the server center belonging to the largest movie piracy group in Hungary, named CiNEDUB.

According to the blog TorrentFreak, reporting on the latest news on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, the authorities seized 10 servers with hundreds of terabytes of pirated material including 6,000 games, 5,000 movies, 4,000 songs and 500 pieces of software. The police also found equipment that permitted large-scale production of pirated material, stashes of money, evidence of cocaine use and a shotgun. Two out of nine group members have been arrested.

CiNEDUB is allegedly responsible for illegal camcording and sale of new releases. The Hungarian authorities say the pirated material was sold via Short Message Service (SMS) payment systems and bank transfers.

Earlier this year, major Hollywood studios discovered that certain pirated movies could be traced back to movie theaters in Hungary and pushed the local authorities to take action. When the movie The Hangover Part II appeared online only a few days after its US premiere, Warner Bros. warned that their movies would not be released in Hungary on or near their US release dates.

The video footage of the raid is available here.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Torrent Freak

HIPO and USPTO Continue Patent Prosecution Highway

The Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have recently agreed to extend the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program, which was launched on July 1, 2010 to accelerate the patent granting procedure by sharing information between the two patent offices.

The PPH’s trial period ended a year after the launch, but as the applicants became more interested in the program’s benefits, HIPO and USPTO extended the program in order to assess its feasibility more thoroughly. A formal decision on the future of the program has not been reached yet.

The PPH enables each participating office to use the work already done by the other office, which avoids duplication of work and accelerates the patent granting procedure. For example, an applicant that received a favorable ruling from one patent office on at least one claim in the application may request a fast-track examination of the corresponding application filed with the other patent office.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: HIPO; USPTO

August 30, 2011

Hungary Amends Domain Name Regulations

The amended domain name regulations intending to shorten and simplify the registration process entered into force in Hungary on June 1, 2011.

The trademark owners now have eight instead of fourteen days to object if a third party tries to register a domain that violates their rights. All applications are announced online on the website maintained by the Council of Hungarian Internet Providers, so that trademark owners can easily object to possible infringements.

In addition, the registration of priority requests, i.e. if the domain name to be registered is identical to the registered trademark owned by the applicant or the full or abbreviated company name of the applicant, is no longer available.

As it was before the amendments, the applicants have to be EU citizens and/or private persons with the right of residence in Hungary and/or legal entities registered by the court or other competent authority and/or owners of trademarks registered with the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office or trademarks that have been granted protection in Hungary.

For more information, please contact Zoltan Kovari at our Hungary office.

Source: Hungarian PTO

July 25, 2011

EUR 1 Million Worth of Counterfeits Seized in Joint Customs Operation ‘Fireblade’

In the period April 5–14, 2011, more than 28,000 pieces or pairs of counterfeit textile items and accessories worth approximately EUR 1,000,000 (USD 1,430,200) were seized along the European Union’s eastern border in a joint customs operation called Fireblade.

The Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration organized the operation in cooperation with the European Anti-Fraud Office, the European Law Enforcement Agency, Europol and national customs offices. Several non-EU countries including Croatia, Ukraine and Moldova participated in the operation along with the EU member states.

Along with the fake apparel and accessories entering the EU from its eastern neighbors, the customs officials also detained large shipments of smuggled perfumes and cigarettes.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Just Style, European Commission

April 27, 2011

Hungarian IPO Expands Trademark Electronic Filing System

The Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) has recently improved its trademark electronic filing system. As of March 1, 2011, nearly all trademark prosecution matters, such as requests for official registry excerpts, changes of registered information and accelerated proceedings, can be requested electronically.

The HIPO now also notifies parties about its decisions electronically and regularly updates its online register. The system can now generate official trademark registry excerpts in a secure electronic format and send them to the rights holders.

Prior to this change, the HIPO only accepted trademark applications and renewals in the electronic form, while all other documents had to be filed in hard copy. The online register was unofficial and was not updated regularly.

In spite of these improvements, the HIPO will still continue to accept all the above-mentioned requests in hard copy.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: HIPO

March 24, 2011

Hungary Toughens Regulations on Counterfeit Drugs

A new amendment to the Hungarian law on counterfeit medication, increasing the fine for production, distribution and trade of unlicensed medicines, entered into force on March 1, 2011, according to the Hungarian National Anti-Counterfeiting Board (HENT).

The amendment prescribes a fine of EUR 367 (USD 510) for unlicensed production and distribution of fake drugs and authorizes law enforcement officers to confiscate the drugs immediately. The new regulations also prescribe fines and seizures for those found in possession of medicines withdrawn from the market, unlicensed in Hungary, or those found with prescription drugs exceeding a single patient’s demand.

Krisztina Szekely, head of HENT’s medical products anti-counterfeiting action group, said the amendment is only the first step in applying much stricter measures against medicine counterfeiters across the EU.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Budapest Business Journal

February 23, 2011

London Agreement Enters into Force in Hungary

On January 1, 2011 the London Agreement, aiming to decrease translation costs for European patents granted under the European Patent Convention, entered into force in Hungary.

Under the agreement, European patents granted in English or submitted with an English translation do not have to be translated to Hungarian for validation before the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO).

For patents granted in French or German, the applicants can either provide an English or a Hungarian translation. Nevertheless, patent claims always have to be filed in Hungarian.

The new rules will also apply to European patents granted before January 1, 2011 and amended in opposition, appeal or limitation proceedings on or after that date.

Along with the London Agreement entering into force, the Hungarian legislation concerning the validation of European patents has also been amended. As of January 1, 2011, the following provisions have been amended:

On administrative fees in industrial property procedures
On documents filed in connection with European and international patent applications and plant variety protection applications
On the rules for electronic filing of documents in industrial property procedures

Under the new provisions, the publication of the European patent translation, which is required for its validation, will cost approximately EUR 80 (USD 109). This amount will increase by EUR 12 (USD 16) for each page exceeding the initial six pages of the text.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Hungarian PTO

January 20, 2011

Hungarian IPO Changes Name

On January 1, 2011, the Hungarian IPO changed its name from the Hungarian Patent Office (HPO) to the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO), in accordance with the Act CXLVIII of 2010.

Apart from the usual intellectual property office tasks, HIPO will from now on handle the registration and supervision of the collective rights management organizations. Another novelty is that the Act now explicitly regulates HIPO’s operation of the National Board Against Counterfeiting. HIPO is also going to contribute to nation branding and promotion of traditional Hungarian products.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Hungarian Intellectual Property Office

December 21, 2010

Counterfeit and Pirated Goods Make Third of Hungary’s Black Market

According to Miklos Bendzsel, chief of the Hungarian Patent Office, pirated and counterfeit goods are valued at EUR 2-3 billion (USD 2.7-4 billion) a year and make approximately one-third of Hungary’s black market, valued at approximately EUR 10 billion (USD 13 billion), worth 10 to 15 percent of Hungary’s gross domestic product each year.

Recent surveys show that approximately 25 percent of Hungarians would buy fake perfume, 22 percent would download pirated software, music or movies from the Internet, while only 2 percent would buy counterfeit food.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Hungary’s business daily, Realdeal.hu

November 29, 2010

Hungarian Supreme Court: Patent Revocation Decision Before Patent Infringement Proceedings

On October 11, 2010, the Hungarian Supreme Court ruled that a court is obligated to suspend a patent infringement case if the Hungarian Patent Office (HPO) has not reached a decision in the patent revocation proceeding.

In a recent infringement case, the court of first instance decided that the defendant had infringed the plaintiff’s patent. The defendant appealed with the Metropolitan Court of Appeal on the grounds that he had initiated a revocation proceeding against the patent before the HPO. The Metropolitan Court of Appeal suspended the infringement proceeding and the Supreme Court upheld the court’s decision.

According to the EPLAW Patent Blog, this decision is an example of judiciary bifurcation in Hungary. Even though the plaintiff stressed that the defendant has not argued the validity of the patent during the six years of litigation and was deliberately stalling the proceeding, the Supreme Court held that the infringement proceeding must be suspended until the revocation proceeding results in a legally binding decision.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Hungary Accedes to London Agreement

On September 28, 2010, Hungary deposited its instrument of accession to the London Agreement, which will enter into force in Hungary on January 1, 2011.

Under the Agreement, Hungary will no longer require Hungarian translation of a European patent specification if the patent was granted in English or submitted with an English translation for protection in Hungary. If the patent specification is not available in English, the applicants have the option of providing the Hungarian translation. However, the Hungarian translation of the European patent claims is always required.

The new rules will also apply to European patents granted before January 1, 2011 and amended in opposition, appeal or limitation proceedings on or after that date.

Hungary is the 16th contracting state of the London Agreement, whose other contracting states are France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Croatia, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Latvia, Slovenia and Lithuania.

The Agreement was concluded on October 17, 2000 with the aim to decrease translation costs for European patents granted under the European Patent Convention. It is an optional agreement between European Patent Organization member states.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: EPO

September 21, 2010

Hungarian Customs Seize Counterfeit Sneakers Worth EUR 1.8 M

On August 5, 2010, the Hungarian customs officials seized 26,000 pairs of counterfeit sneakers bearing well-known marks, worth over EUR 1.8 million (USD 2.3 million).

The sneakers were seized at the Rajka border crossing in northwestern Hungary after being discovered in two tractor-trailers with Latvian license plates. The goods were reportedly made in Vietnam and were supposed to be exported from Slovakia to Italy. The tractor-trailer drivers have not been taken into custody, but are being investigated.

For more information, please contact Masa Lopicic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Pestiside.hu

July 21, 2010

Hungarian Police Seize 58 Computer Servers in Anti-Online-Piracy Raid

The Hungarian police seized 58 computer servers in an anti-online-piracy operation conducted in several server hotels and an IT college in Budapest on June 16 and 18, 2010. The raids were carried out following complaints by the Hungarian Copyright Alliance and the local film industry, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reported.

The police reported that 500 terabytes of infringing content had been found on the servers, including data allegedly used to illegally distribute thousands of copyrighted works via local and international torrent sites.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.

Source: IFPI

USPTO Launches PPH with HPO on July 1, To Launch PPH with Rospatent on September 1

On July 1, 2010, the Hungarian Patent Office (HPO) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) launched the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program, aimed at accelerating the patent granting procedure by sharing information between patent offices.

The trial period, designed to assess the feasibility of the project, will end a year later, on July 1, 2011, but it can be extended or terminated at an earlier date depending on the volume of work and other factors.

The PPH agreements allow each participating patent office to benefit from the search and examination work already done by the other office. For example, an applicant that received a favorable ruling from one patent office on at least one claim in the application may request a fast-track examination of the corresponding application filed with the other patent office. The applicants thus benefit from patentability determination in multiple jurisdictions and reduced costs of prosecution.

“Utilization of the results of patent examinations, performed according to common quality standards for the benefit of our clients, may accelerate technology transfer between the USA and Hungary, as well as enhance co-operation in the field of innovation”, stated the HPO President Miklos Bendzsel.

“The amount of repetitious work involved in examining patent filings first filed in other patent offices represents a significant impact on the USPTO’s workload and the workload of other offices, and contributes to our backlog and long pendency periods,” stated the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos. “Work sharing with other similarly skilled examiners in other patent offices such as the Hungarian Patent Office is one of our most important tools to speed patent examination and enhance quality.”

According to the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent), the PPH will also be launched between Rospatent and the USPTO on September 1, 2010, for a trial period of one year ending on August 30, 2011.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.

Source: USPTO, HPO, Rospatent

June 23, 2010

Adidas Loses Against Hungarian Inventor in Patent Infringement Suit

On May 12, 2010, the Hungarian Patent Office (HPO) ruled in favor of the Hungarian soccer gear inventor Laszlo Oroszi in his patent infringement suit against the German sports apparel manufacturer Adidas, concerning Oroszi’s patent known as the ball-directing striped-line zone that Adidas allegedly, without Oroszi’s authorization, incorporated into their Predator Precision range of soccer shoes.

Oroszi told the Budapest Report that he registered the patent in Hungary on October 14, 1996, explaining that the striped zone at the tip of the shoe permits football players to shoot more accurately. Oroszi’s representative presented the patent to Adidas in 1998, but Adidas declined the offer claiming that it does not fit into their concept for the then new Predator Precision soccer shoes. However, Oroszi claims that the Predator Precision soccer shoes with his patented concept were launched just before the Euro 2000 soccer Championship.

In 2006 Adidas initiated a nullity proceeding against Oroszi’s patent in Hungary in response to Oroszi’s patent infringement suit. The German company argued that Oroszi obtained an invalid patent and demanded that the HPO annuls it. As a result, the court suspended the patent infringement proceedings until the patent status became resolved.

Last fall, the patent status was resolved in favor of Oroszi. This was the third time that Adidas appealed and that HPO ruled in favor of Oroszi. Adidas was left with no new grounds to object against Oroszi’s concept, resulting in the patent infringement case coming out of suspension.

Oroszi notes that, although Adidas earned millions by using his concept without his consent, he cannot sue the company outside Hungary, as he has no funds to obtain foreign patent protection.

As stated in the Budapest Report, although Adidas negated the accusations and maintained that they used their own ideas, they were not able to provide the patent for the concept that was built into their soccer shoes.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.

Source: Budapest Report

November 24, 2009

Hungary and Finland Launch Patent Prosecution Highway Program

In Budapest on October 22, 2009, Hungary and Finland launched the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program.

The agreement between the Hungarian and Finnish patent offices is significant as this is the first PPH agreement concluded between two European offices. The project will be launched on January 4, 2010 as a one-year trial, after which it can be extended. The aim of the trial program is to establish the applicants’ interest and determine whether the program improves quality and efficiency.

The PPH project, which was initiated in Japan, is based on bilateral agreements. It enables patent offices to exchange information and it speeds up the processing of patent applications. As explained by the Hungarian Patent Office, the parties to this agreement mutually recognize and utilize the work that has been carried out by one of the offices concerning a given application, making it possible for applicants requesting patent protection for the same invention in both countries to obtain patent protection faster.

PPH agreements have already been concluded in a number of countries, including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Denmark, Finland, and Austria, as well as the European Patent Office.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.

October 21, 2009

Budapest to Host Regional Conference on Coexistence of Community and National Trademark Systems

Budapest will host The Regional Conference on the Coexistence of the Community and National Trademark Systems in Europe, on November 3, 2009.

The event will involve presentations and discussions covering the field of coexistence of trademark rights, particularly the relationship between the Community Trade Mark Regulation and the national trademark acts.

To register for the event, please send an email to the following address: agnes.kincses@hpo.hu

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.

July 21, 2009

Hungarian and Japanese PTO Sign Agreement to Facilitate Granting of Patents

On June 30, 2009, the Hungarian and Japanese patent offices signed a bilateral agreement to accelerate and facilitate the granting of patents.

The agreement was signed in Budapest by Takashi Suzuki, head of the Japanese Patent Office, and his Hungarian counterpart, Miklós Bendzsel.

As part of this agreement, on August 3, 2009, the two patent offices will launch a pilot project entitled the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH).

According to the Hungarian PTO, the aim of the project is to help all those who wish to acquire protection for one single patent in multiple countries, to acquire it at the same time and more efficiently.

Faster and more efficient performance is expected during patent granting procedures. Granting of a patent in Hungary on the basis of a PPH request should not take more than four to five months.

The PPH project was initiated by Japan. The idea has already been applied by other patent offices throughout the world, including the European Patent Office (EPO).

For more information, please contact Jovana Miocinovic in our Balkan Regional Office.

July 31, 2006

Hungarian Patent Office Announces Changes in the Schedule of Fees

Changes in the schedule of fees charged by the National Collection of Agricultural and Industrial Microorganisms (NCAIM) entered into force on June 25, 2006

The change in the amount of fees charged by NCAIM is as follows:

(a) Storage HUF 150,000 (USD 702)

(b) Issuance of an attestation HUF 10,000 (USD 46)

(d) Furnishing of a sample HUF 30,000 (USD 140)

For more information, please contact our Hungary representative.