HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: Árpád Pethő, Levente Pethő, Eszter Szakács and József Tálas, Danubia Patent & Law Office
within 30 days. Furthermore, licensees may act as co-plaintiffs of the patentee or intervene in infringement proceedings initiated by the pat- entee. In the case of trade secrets, normally the owner of the right files an action against the infringer; the licensee may file such action only if it has such right on the basis of the licence agreement. 3.2 Direct and Indirect Infringement Direct Infringement In instances of direct infringement of an exclu- sive right, the patentee shall be entitled to pre- vent any person from doing the following without consent, under Article 19 of the Patent Act: • 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. In practice, courts interpret the forms of exploi- tation listed in Article 19 of the Patent Act strictly, and no other activity is considered to be infring- ing. Indirect Infringement In the case of indirect infringement, the patentee is entitled to prevent any person that does not have consent from supplying or offering to sup-
ply a person – other than a person entitled to exploit the invention – with means (instruments, appliances) relating to an essential element of the invention or carrying out the invention. This applies when the person knows, or it is obvi- ous from the circumstances, that those means are suitable and intended for carrying out the invention. For available remedies, see 6. Remedies . 3.3 Process Patents A special legal presumption is established in the Patent Act regarding process patents. Article 19(7) states that, pending proof to the contrary, a product shall be deemed to be produced through the patented process (in suit) if the product is new, or if there is conclusive evidence that the product has been manufactured by the patented process, and the holder of the patent could not define the process actually applied after having taken the steps generally expected in the given situation. Conclusive evidence to verify that the product has been produced by way of the pat- ented process constitutes the probability that it is the only process that has been made available to the public. There are no special rules for the situation if parts of the allegedly infringing process are prac- tised outside Hungary, and this has not yet been addressed in court practice. 3.4 Scope of Protection for an Intellectual Property Right Under Article 24 of the Patent Act (which is in line with Article 69 of the European Patent Conven- tion 2000), the scope of protection of the patent shall be determined by the claims. Claims shall be interpreted on the basis of the description and the drawings. The scope of the patent cov-
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