HUNGARY Law and Practice Contributed by: Árpád Pethő, Levente Pethő, Eszter Szakács and József Tálas, Danubia Patent & Law Office
infringement lawsuits) or non-contentious (eg, preliminary injunction proceedings and reviews of HIPO decisions). The deadline for appeal is 15 days from the receipt of the decision. In IP cases, the Metropolitan Court of Appeal adju- dicates the appeals and conducts a full review of the facts and points of law within the limits determined by the submitted appeal. The appellant must accurately set out the grounds on which the appeal is based by indi- cating the specific provision or part of the deci- sion challenged by the appeal. The appeal shall contain a definitive request for the changes to be made by the appeal court in the specific provi- sion or part of the judgment of first instance that is contested, or for abolishing such provision or part, and shall provide its reasons respectively. In the appeal phase of the proceedings, the submission of new facts or evidence is limited. There is no appeal against the decision of the Metropolitan Court of Appeal. A final and binding decision can be referred to the Supreme Court of Hungary (Curia) for judicial review, but this is only possible regarding questions of law. 8. Costs 8.1 Costs Before Filing a Lawsuit Costs arising for the plaintiff prior to a lawsuit typically relate to the following categories: • obtaining evidence – this typically includes the costs of test-purchasing a sample of the infringing product and the technical analysis of it, if required, or obtaining expert opinions; • the costs of pretrial correspondence with the other party, although this is not mandatory; and
• the preparation of the court claim and its legal arguments. 8.2 Calculation of Court Fees Revocation actions and non-infringement pro- ceedings have a fixed procedural fee of approxi- mately EUR440 for the HIPO stage. During the court phase, the duty fee is determined by a hypothetical value of the proceedings, which is set by law. This makes the duty fee rather mini- mal. The duty fee in revocation proceedings is not dependent on the value of the patent or the market concerned. In infringement lawsuits, from 28 January 2024, there are some changes in the calculation of the duty free, according to which the minimum fee is approximately EUR80, and the fee basically depends on the value of the lawsuit. However, according to practice, the value of the lawsuit can only be determined when the claim contains a pecuniary claim – eg, a claim for damages. The same (somewhat increased) volume of duty fee is to be paid at higher court instances. 8.3 Responsibility for Paying the Costs of Litigation In principle, the losing party shall be responsible for paying court fees, expenses and the other party’s legal costs. All expenses must be vali- dated by invoices, including the fee of the legal representative. However, the HIPO and the court have the right to reduce the legal costs that are to be awarded to the winning party, and often do so. The court may also decide that each party is to bear its own costs, especially if the winning ratio is close to 50% (eg, by only partially grant- ing what the plaintiff requested). Such a decision is quite common in technical IP cases. Also, if a party causes extra costs (eg, if its delaying
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