Transitional Protection will be available in Romania starting on March 1, 1998.
Romanian Government Ordinance 25/1998 published on January 30, 1998 provides with the conditions concerning the transitional protection of the patents for invention as follows.
1. How can somebody take advantage of the transitional protection?
The transitional protection is granted upon request.
2. Who can request for the transitional protection?
The patent owners, having a priority earlier than January 21, 1991, in a state member of the Paris Union for the industrial property protection or of the World Trade Organization.
3. What patents can be subject to apply for the transitional protection?
Patent invention having as subject matter the substances obtained by nuclear, chemical methods, medicinal products, methods of diagnosis and medical treatment, disinfectants, food products and spices, as well as the new plant varieties, bacteria and fungi strains, new breeds of animals, silkworms.
4. How long does the granted transitional protection last?
The duration of the protection starts on the date of filing the application with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks and ceases on the date of expiry of the validity of the patent for invention, of cancellation thereof, or on the date of lapse of patent owner's rights, without exceeding 20 years from the regular filing date in the country of origin.
5. What are the conditions for granting the transitional protection?
The transitional protection is granted if the following conditions are fulfilled cumulatively:
a) the invention is the object of a patent in force in a state member of the Paris Union for the industrial property protection or of the World Trade Organization, with a date of priority earlier than the date of January 21, 1991;
b) the subject-matter of the invention was not patented in Romania and belongs to the categories provided for at item 3 of the present information sheet;
c) the product which is the subject-matter of the patent for invention was not marketed in Romania prior to the date of December 31, 1993;
d) the application for granting the transitional protection was filed within 6 months from the date of coming into force of the present ordinance.
6. What are the requirements for filing the application with the Patent Office?
The application for granting the transitional protection, drawn up in Romanian, is filed with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks through an authorized representative and it will contain:
a) express request for the transitional protection;
b) name or denomination, address and signature of the patent owner;
c) reference patent number and the title of the invention, duration for which it was granted and the country of issuance.
The application for the transitional protection will enclose the followings:
a) a copy of the corresponding patent;
b) a translation into Romanian of the patent;
c) certification of the patent validity given by the office that granted the patent;
d) legalized statement of the patent owner that the product which is the subject-matter of the patentable invention was not marketed in Romania earlier than the date of December 31, 1993;
e) power of attorney.
The documents provided for in previous paragraph will be submitted together with the application, or within a period of time of two months from the date thereof.
7. What does the Patent Office do when it receives such an application?
The State Office for Inventions and Trademarks records the application, examines the fulfillment of the conditions provided for by the present ordinance within three months from the application filing date, publishes in the Official Bulletin for Industrial Property the granted transitional protection, which is recorded into the appendix to the National Register of Patents and issues the Certificate of transitional protection, together with the translation into Romanian of the patent.
The applications failing to fulfil the conditions provided for in the present ordinance are rejected.
8. Can the Decisions of the Patent Office be appealed? What is the due term for filing an appeal?
The decisions of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks regarding the transitional protection applications may be appealed to the Re-Examination Board, within 30 days from the communication, in case of rejection, or from the publication, in case of the accepted applications.
The decisions of the Re-Examination Board may be attacked with an appeal with the Municipal Court of Bucharest, within 30 days from the communication.
9. Can a transitional protection certificate be cancelled?
The cancellation of the transitional protection, certificate for failure to fulfil the conditions provided for by the present ordinance, may be demanded during the whole period of protection and it is judged by the Municipal Court of Bucharest.
10. What are the rights conferred by the transitional protection?
For proceedings, the rights conferred by the transitional protection, transfer, defending and maintaining into force thereof there are applied the provisions of the legislation in force concerning the patens for invention.
11. What is the time limit for filing an application for transitional protection?
An application for transitional protection can be filed with the Romanian Patent Office only within:
1 March 1998 - 1 September 1998
12. What are the fees to be paid ?
The fees for the proceedings provided for at item 7 of the present information sheet are to be paid within two months from the date of filing the transitional protection application. The corresponding amounts will be communicated later.
The content of this article is intended to provide general information on the subject matter. For specific circumstances, please contact us for full advice.
