HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: Árpád Pethő, Levente Pethő, Eszter Szakács and József Tálas, Danubia Patent & Law Office
European patent even in the absence of a trans- lation. There are no punitive monetary sanctions under Hungarian law. The court may order the provision of informa- tion, the delivery and destruction of the infring- ing products, the publication of the decision in newspapers or magazines, or on the internet, at the expense of the infringer, and the recall of the infringing products from the channels of commerce. If the fact of an infringement of an effective IP right is established, the court grants an injunc- tion without considering the other facts of the case (eg, the revenue loss of the defendant or the interest of third parties, or wilful infringe- ment). Remedies are enforced in line with the general rules of foreclosure, with special rules applying for IP cases that involve recurring penalties for non-complying defendants regarding injunctive relief orders. 6.2 Rights of Prevailing Defendants If the court rejects the infringement claim, the defendant shall be awarded the legal expenses that have arisen in connection with the lawsuit (lawyers’ fees, translation costs, duty fees, etc). Due to the bifurcated system, a preliminary injunction may be granted against the defend- ant, and the patentee can then start the infringe- ment proceedings within the legal deadline, and as a usual defence the defendant files a revo- cation request against the patent-in-suit. If the patent has been revoked as a result of the revo- cation proceedings, and the preliminary injunc- tion is lifted, the defendant may claim damages.
Regarding the legal basis of such damages, the CJEU judgment in Case C-688/17 ( Bayer ), which was a referral initiated by the Metropolitan Court of Budapest, is to be taken into account. 6.3 Types of Remedies Available remedies are determined uniformly by the Patent Act, regardless of different IP rights. 6.4 Injunctions Pending Appeal An appeal will suspend the enforceability of the first-instance decision on the merits, unless the judgment of the court of first instance expressly states that the decision is enforceable notwith- standing an appeal. Preliminary injunctions are always enforceable, irrespective of an appeal. 7. Appeal 7.1 Special Provisions for Intellectual Property Proceedings Under Hungarian law, there are no special legal provisions for IP rights appeal proceedings. This also applies to patent/utility model infringement and validity proceedings, which are equally gov- erned by the general rules of civil procedures contained in the CCP. In these cases, which come under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Met- ropolitan Tribunal of Budapest, the Metropolitan Court of Appeal is competent to adjudicate the appeals with a panel of three legal judges. In infringement lawsuits, the Appeal Court shall hold a hearing, while a hearing is only held upon the request of either party in proceedings for the review of HIPO decisions. 7.2 Type of Review Judgments and meritorious orders are subject to appeal in all proceedings, either contentious (eg,
216 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook