General Information | Patents of Invention
Trade & Service Marks | Industrial Designs | Domain Names
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General Information

Area: 93,036 sq. km.
Population: 9,964,000 inhabitants (estimated 2011).
Capital: Budapest.
Language: Hungarian.
Currency: Forint.

GENERAL REMARKS

Hungary is member of the European Union as of May 1, 2004. In the structure of the Hungarian economy, industry, finance-real estate, commerce and tourism play the basic role. In 2010, 55.5% of the gross domestic product came from service section, 22.7% from industry and 21.8% from other economic sections. The number of employees is about 3,836 million (2011) and the average rate of unemployment has been 9-10% in the last ten years.

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Patents of Invention

LEGAL BASIS

• Patent Law No. XXXIII of 1995, in force since January 1, 1996.
• Decree No. 20/2002 (XII.12) (IM) on Rules of formal requirements of patent applications, in force since January 1, 2003.
• Decree No. 19/2005 (IV. 12.) (GKM) on Fees of the Proceedings before the Hungarian Patent Office (HPO), in force since June 11, 2009.
• Law No. L of 2002 on Enactment of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents.
• Regulation (EC) No. 469/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 6, 2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, Stockholm Act.
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), in force since June 27, 1980.
• European Patent Convention, in force since January 1, 2003.

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney, signed by the applicant, no legalization required (can be filed later);
• Assignment (if the applicant is other than the inventor(s)), no legalization required (can be filed later);
• Assignment of priority right (if the applicant is not the applicant of the priority application, and not the inventor), no legalization required (can be filed later);
• Application documents can be filed in any language (exceptions: the claim for a patent and the identification of the applicant should be in Hungarian), comprising specification and abstract; Hungarian translation thereof can be filed within four months;
• Formal drawings, if applicable;
• Priority document(s), if applicable, with a translation in English, German or French, no legalization required (should be filed within four months from the filing date; no extension of term is possible).

REMARKS

National Phase of PCT: under Chapter I: 31 months; under Chapter II: 31 months.
Validity: 20 years from the filing date.
Annuities: are accumulated and due on the day of publication.
Opposition: not provided for.

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Trade and Service Marks

LEGAL BASIS

• Act No. 11 of 1997 on the Protection of Trade Marks and Geographical Indications, in force as of July 1, 1997; last comprehensive revision by Act No. XXVII of 2009, which introduced the electronic filing system.
• Act 2005 CLXV on Enforcement of Industrial Property Rights and Copyrights, effective as of January 1, 2006.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, Stockholm Act.
• Madrid Agreement, Stockholm Act
• Madrid Protocol.

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Name and address of applicant;
• Specification of goods and/or services (international classification);
• Power of Attorney, signed by the applicant (no legalization, late filing possible);
• 1 print of the mark (only for device marks);
• If priority is claimed, priority document must be filed within three months after filing date.

REMARKS

Kinds of protection: trademarks comprising a word or device or a combination of both, two and three-dimensional designations. Service marks are registrable.
Classification: International.
Obligation to use the registered mark: compulsory. Non-use during any five-year period of effective registration allows any interested party to require cancellation of the registration. Cancellation ex officio on the basis of non-use is excluded.
Duration – renewals: 10-year period from the filing date, renewable for further periods of ten years.
Opposition: possible within three months from the publication date but on relative grounds only and by persons concerned by the cited prior right.

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Industrial Designs

LEGAL BASIS

• Law No. XLVIII of 2001 on Protection of Industrial Designs.
• Decree No. 19/2001 (XI.29), (IM) of the Minister of Justice on Rules of Formal Requirements in Industrial Design cases.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Hague Agreement, Geneva Act, since April 7, 1984.

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Defining the name of the design and preferably the class according to the Locarno Agreement;
• Power of Attorney signed by applicant; no legalization;
• Assignment of priority right;
• 3 copies of drawings or photographs between 3 x 4 cm and 9 x 12 cm, showing the design in several views, if necessary; if colors are claimed, drawings (photographs) must be colored;
• Priority document.

REMARKS

Duration - renewals: 5 years. Can be extended for four additional 5-year periods.
Opposition: not provided for.

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Domain Names

LEGAL BASIS

• There is no specific legislation on country code top-level domain names.

FILING

• ccTLD: .hu
• Applicant: for top-level domains: EU citizens, legal entities operating in the EU and owners of national trademarks or trademarks granted protection in Hungary; for sub-domains: any natural person or legal entity (except the .tm.hu SLD, under which only trademark holders can register domain names).
• Local Presence: not required, but must have a local administrative contact.

REMARKS

Duration – renewals: depends on appointed Registrar. Usually one year, renewable.
Uniform dispute resolution procedure: none, but an alternative dispute resolution procedure (ADR) is avalailabe.

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If you wish more detailed information concerning intellectual property protection in this territory please contact us or order Katzarov’s Manual on Industrial Property.

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