HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: Árpád Pethő, Levente Pethő, Eszter Szakács and József Tálas, Danubia Patent & Law Office
There is no public information listing applicable patents in relation to certain products or pro- cesses, not even in the pharmaceutical space. Utility Models (Article 12 of the Utility Model Act) Utility model protection affords the holder the exclusive right to exploit the utility model or to license another person to exploit it, as provided for by legislation. The exclusive right of exploita- tion shall include the manufacture, use or impor- tation of the subject matter of the utility model, or putting it on the market within the framework of economic activity. The owners of the above IP rights are entitled to seek remedies against alleged infringers and may allow their licensees to take such action. The costs relating to the above IP rights are to be borne by the owner(s). 1.6 Further Protection After Lapse of the Maximum Term Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) are available for medicinal products on the basis of Regulation (EC) Nos 469/2009 and 1901/2006 (paediatric extensions) and for plant protection products on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1610/96. Such additional protection is available for a maximum of five years for certain phar- maceutical and plant protection products that have been approved for sale in Hungary and are covered by a national patent (an additional six months of protection is available for medicinal products that are also used for paediatric appli- cations). 1.7 Third-Party Rights to Participate in Grant Proceedings During the patent-granting procedure, any per- son may file an observation with the HIPO to the effect that the invention or the application does
not comply with a requirement of patentability. Such observation shall be taken into considera- tion when the requirement objected to in the observation is examined. The person making the observation shall not be a party to the patent- granting procedure but shall be notified of the outcome of their observation. 1.8 Remedies Against Refusal to Grant an Intellectual Property Right If a final decision of the HIPO fully or partially refuses the granting of a registered IP right, such as patents or utility models, an appeal (ie, a request for reconsideration) may be filed with the Metropolitan Tribunal within 30 days of the date of the notification of the decision. The deci- sion of the Metropolitan Tribunal may be further appealed at the Metropolitan Appeal Court. 1.9 Consequences of Failure to Pay Annual Fees Patents, SPCs and utility models lapse if the annual fees are not paid. A possible remedy is to pay an extra 50% late-payment fee within six months of the missed deadline. If patent or SPC protection has lapsed due to non-payment of the annual fees, protection shall be restored at the request of the applicant or the patentee. The res- toration of patent protection may be requested within three months following the expiry of the six-month grace period, upon the payment of a fee. If utility model protection has lapsed due to failure to pay annual fees, the HIPO shall, on request, restore the protection upon the pay- ment of a fee if the failure occurred for good reason. The fee to be paid for restoring the protection of any above IP right is twice the amount of the
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