HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: Árpád Pethő, Levente Pethő, Eszter Szakács and József Tálas, Danubia Patent & Law Office
1. Intellectual Property Rights and Granting Procedure 1.1 Types of Intellectual Property Rights The intellectual property (IP) rights available to protect inventions in Hungary are patents, utility models and know-how. These forms of protec- tion are all based on statutory law – Act XXXIII of 1995 (Patent Act), Act XXXVIII of 1991 (Utility Model Act) and Act LIV of 2018 (Act on Trade Secrets and Know-how) – though Hungarian and European case law are also duly considered by the authorities. 1.2 Grant Procedure The grant procedure for patents and utility mod- els requires an application to be filed with the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO). A formal examination is carried out and, if all requirements are met, a substantive examination of the requirements of novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability follows for patent applica- tions; however, no examination of novelty and inventive step is carried out in the case of utility model applications. After a period of not less than 18 months from the filing date of the application, the HIPO makes the application available for the public. The appli- cant may also request an earlier publication. Publication gives rise to provisional protection, on the basis of which the applicant may seek relief against alleged infringers, though in patent cases the infringement procedure is stayed until final protection is obtained. There is no grant or registration procedure for know-how; protection arises automatically pur- suant to the law.
1.3 Timeline for Grant Procedure The granting procedure for patents usually takes two to three years, and six to 12 months for utility models. Representation by a patent attorney or a lawyer is mandatory for foreign but not domestic clients before the HIPO, although it is manda- tory for everyone before the courts. The average cost for granting a patent is EUR1,000 (exclud- ing lawyers’ fees and depending on the length of time taken); for utility models it is EUR110 (excluding lawyers’ fees). 1.4 Term of Each Intellectual Property Right Patents last 20 years from the filing date, while utility models last ten years from the filing date. The duration of know-how is potentially unlim- ited, provided the legal requirements are met. 1.5 Rights and Obligations of Owners of Intellectual Property Rights The holder of the patent has the exclusive right to exploit the invention, on the basis of which the patentee is entitled to prevent any person that does not have their consent from: • making, using, putting on the market or offer- ing for sale a product that is the subject mat- ter of the invention, or stocking or importing the product for such purposes; • using a process that is the subject matter of the invention or offering the process for use where such other person knows, or it is obvi- ous from the circumstances, that the process cannot be used without the consent of the patentee; or • making, using, putting on the market, offer- ing for sale, or stocking or importing for such purposes, a product obtained directly by a process that is the subject matter of the invention.
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