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General Information

Area:10,887 sq. km.
Population: 2,126,708 inhabitants (estimated 2007).
Capital: Pristina.
Language: Albanian (official), Serbian (official), Bosniak, Turkish, Roma.
Currency: the euro is the official currency, but the Serbian dinar is also used in the Serbian-populated areas. .

GENERAL REMARKS

This province, which was under United Nations' administration (UNMIK), declared its independence on February 17, 2008. Kosovo has not yet been recognized as an independent country by the U.N. and has not yet joined WIPO or any of the international IP treaties. However, local government bodies operate independently from the Serbian authorities and a number of laws, among which are the industrial property laws, have entered into force. The local IP Office started to operate on November 19, 2007 and receives new patent and trademark applications for the territory of Kosovo. Furthermore, re-validation (re-registration or re-filing of pending applications) of the former Yugoslavia, former Serbia and Montenegro and finally Serbia IP rights, applied for before October 1, 2007, was provided for by the regulations that entered into force on October 1, 2007. It was foreseen that the corresponding requests would be filed within a one-year period as of the opening of the local IP Office, which expired on November 19, 2008.

The extension to Kosovo, or continuation of effect regarding International Registrations valid in Serbia (previously designating former Yugoslavia or former Serbia and Montenegro), has not yet been regulated.