HUNGARY LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Pál Szabó, Barnabás Simon, Eszter Katona, Ádám Simon, Mihály Harcos, Karim Laribi, Gábor Kutai and István Szalay-Csala, Bird & Bir d
11. Intellectual Property and Data Protection 11.1 Intellectual Property Considerations for Approval of FDI Under the 2025 FDI Act, sectors of strategic impor - tance include numerous IP-heavy sectors such as pharmaceutical production, medical device manufac - ture, the communication sector (filmmaking, publish - ing, etc) and information technology services, while investments in such sectors are less likely to trigger the applicability of the 2018 FDI regime. However, as there is no publicly available guidance as to the method the competent authorities apply when review - ing FDI screening notifications, it is not clear whether IP is considered an important aspect by the compe - tent authorities under the Hungarian FDI screening regimes. 11.2 Intellectual Property Protections There is a strong intellectual property regime in place in Hungary, offering protection to all major intellec - tual property rights (“IP rights”): patents, utility mod - els, trademarks, geographical indications, copyright, designs, trade secrets, know-how and supplementary protection certificates. Patents, utility models, trademarks, geographical indications and designs can be registered at national level, with the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (SZTNH). Registration or other formalities are not required for the existence or enforceability of copyright protection. However, the SZTNH offers a voluntary registration system for copyright and related rights. This voluntary registration system does not grant copyright or any other title of protection but offers evidence that works registered with the SZTNH exist and their author is identifiable. Enforcement IP rights can be enforced through the Hungarian courts. Upon infringement of IP rights, the owner/ author or the authorised user may seek judicial enforcement by means of a civil action for infringe - ment and/or a request for a preliminary injunction. The main civil remedies are establishing the infringement,
employer must pay the same salary and benefits as the transferor employer. 10.3 Employment Protection Change-of-control transactions do not trigger any change in the status of employees, as the employer (target company) remains the same. The transaction parties may agree in the transaction documents that the acquiring group must honour certain commitments of the seller group made to the target’s employees. Rules on the TUPE transfer are typically triggered by business/asset/portfolio transfer deals, where the employees transfer together with the business as it transfers from the seller to the purchaser as a going concern, or together with the portfolio or assets (where assets are not transferred as part of a business), based on the assumption that the employees pertain to the assets or portfolio of that transfer. Employees and the works council (if any) must be informed about the TUPE transfer prior to such transfer. This is a noti - fication obligation only, and employees or employee representation bodies do not have the right to veto or prevent the transfer. Subject to certain condi - tions, the transferor employer’s collective bargaining agreements must be maintained and applied by the transferee employer for one year following the TUPE transfer; however, this is not a condition precedent to the transfer. Employees may terminate their employment relation - ship in the event a material adverse change occurs in their employment relationship as a result of the trans - fer. These employees may be entitled to statutory sev - erance pay and paid garden leave. Transferor and transferee employers are jointly and severally liable for all employee claims that became due prior to the transfer date if the claim is asserted within a one-year period after the transfer date.
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