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Preparation of intellectual property legislation and application of law
Preparation of intellectual property legislation
The Hungarian Patent Office (HPO) performed to a high level its duties related to the preparation of legislation with a comprehensive approach and in an efficient manner. The majority of the tasks focused on the preparation of amendments to the legislation concerning industrial property and copyright. An important part of the work was related to Hungary’s membership of the European Union, the European Patent Organisation and the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Due to the expanding range of industrial property documents that may be filed with the HPO in an electronic way, it was necessary to amend Government Decree 147/2007. (VI. 26.) Korm. on the detailed rules concerning electronic filing of certain documents in industrial property procedures. The amendment was drafted by the HPO. The decree contains, inter alia, provisions for creating opportunities for electronic filing of requests for the validation of European patents, as well as extending the rules for the electronic filing of industrial property communications to the requests for renewal of design protection.
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY OFFICIAL EXAMINATION AND PROCEDURES
OFFICIAL ACTIVITY
Since our country’s accession to the European Union on 1 May 2004, the effect of Community protection systems has extended to Hungary as well.
The number of international design applications, and that of designs included in the applications, filed under the Hague Agreement and designating Hungary, also decreased significantly.
As a result of Hungary’s accession to the Community and European protection systems, a considerable part of the foreign applications filed directly with the HPO in the previous years shifted to the European or the Community route. Consequently, following the year of accession and in all relevant titles of protection, the number of industrial property matters filed in the national route, domestically and directly with the HPO from abroad, decreased as expected.
In the case of design applications received in the national route a favourable increase has been detected in the number of designs filed since 2006.
The level of design activities of the Hungarian applicants increased compared with the previous year.
The figures of the industrial property activity of foreign applicants in Hungary indicate the international interest in the Hungarian economy and market and also the integration of the Hungarian economy in Europe.
As a result of Hungary’s accession to the Community trade mark and design protection systems on 1 May 2004, an ever-growing number of foreign applicants have availed themselves of the opportunity of obtaining Community protection with effect in the territory of Hungary.
As a result of the accession to the European and Community protection systems, the amount of industrial property with protection extending to the territory of Hungary has been continuously increasing year by year. These protections must be respected by all domestic market players during their economic decision making.
The HPO has performed the tasks of a receiving office – in respect of the Community trade marks and designs – deriving from the accession to the European Union on 1 May 2004. Hungarian applicants have filed 9 Community design applications via the HPO as a receiving office. Through its IP information activities, the HPO supports primarily the preparation of international applications of domestic SMEs and individual inventors.
DESIGNS
Following the accession of the Community design system to the Hague Agreement, both the number of international design applications under the Hague Agreement and that of the included designs decreased by 62% and 46%, respectively compared with the previous year. The HPO received 55 applications and registered 295 designs. As a consequence of the economic crisis, there was a 10% decrease in the number of designs included in the Community applications. Hungarian applicants filed Community applications concerning 127 designs.
The HPO received 225 new design applications filed following the national route, which included 1013 designs. The upturn in the domestic applicants’ activity is shown by the fact that the number of designs included in the applications was 13% higher than in the previous year. Applicants availed themselves of the opportunity of filing applications containing more designs. The average number of designs included in the applications was the highest regarding the past 5 years, being an average of 4.5 compared to 3 in the previous year. 97% of the design applications came from domestic applicants, 70% of them from individual applicants. The number of designs included in the applications filed by domestic applicants showed a considerable increase.
In national granting procedure 276 cases were completed, which concerned 1024 designs; the number of registrations was 234, which concerned 810 designs; the procedure ended in rejection in 2 cases, in withdrawal in 1 case and 39 cases were considered withdrawn. The average duration of the granting procedure was reduced to less than 10 months. The HPO received 7 requests for invalidity. The procedure was completed concerning 9 requests for invalidity and 2 for declaration on non-infringement. In the framework of the international (under the Hague Agreement) granting procedure the number of registrations was 55, which concerned 295 designs.
At the end of the year, 3149 national designs were valid, 19% less than in the previous year. 81% of the valid designs were owned by Hungarian, 8% by US, 2% by German and British right-holders each. The lifetime of the valid designs shows a dominance of 6-year-old or “younger” designs.
At the end of the year the number of community designs also valid in Hungary was 404 000, 10% less than in the previous year.
The HPO conducted a survey on the granting procedure of designs in order to gather information for the re-regulation of the procedure. Applicants and representatives participating in the procedure before the HPO, two non-governmental organisations, as well as applicants following the Community route and independent designers participated in the survey. 75% of the applicants and 80% of the representatives replied in appreciation of the service offered by the HPO in the granting procedure.
HUNGARIAN DESIGN COUNCIL AND DESIGN TERMINAL
The Hungarian Design Council (HDC), as an organisation for coordination, contributes to boosting the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy with the tools of design; it aims at improving the Hungarian design culture in compliance with the goals of economy, innovation, environment and education policy.
The HDC is responsible for managing the Hungarian Design Award and the Moholyi-Nagy László Design Grant. Applications for the Hungarian Design Award granted for the thirtieth time in 2009 could be sent in four categories: Product, Visual Communication, Concept and Student Work. 261 entries were received for the call, of which six works were granted the Hungarian Design Award upon the decision of the Selection Committee, and four works were granted a special award. The renewed Moholyi-Nagy László Design Grant was awarded to fifteen designers, giving them the chance to show their force of creative innovation.
For the first time, the HDC announced the Design Management Award established for the promotion of purposeful use of design, which could be granted to economic organisations having excellent results in the application and management of design in the preceding five years. The Award was granted to Tungsram-Schréder and to Műcsarnok (Art Hall). These institutions have already incorporated the design thinking into their tools of innovation.
In order to disseminate up-to-date information related to design, the HDC continued the cooperation based on agreements with major Hungarian institutions training design professionals, such as Moholyi-Nagy University of Art and Design, University of West Hungary, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungarian University of Fine Arts and University of Miskolc.
The travelling exhibition of the Hungarian Design Award called “FormaTúra” (launched in 2008) proved that design can function as a bridge between technologies and users, and between engineering and business. As a last station in Hungary, the exhibition was organized at the University of Pécs between 31 March and 19April, then it was introduced internationally in Vilnius between 5 September and 5 October in 2009.
The HDC issued the fourth, extended and up-to-date volume of the publication “Start-up Guide – Business advices for beginner entrepreneurs in arts”. The international management of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) held its meeting in Budapest between 15 and 17 May 2009. This occasion gave the opportunity for the professional organisations of the Central European region to be represented.
The HPO as one of the founders of the Design Terminál non-profit company – according to the agreement concluded with the Hungarian State Holding Company in 2008 – has the right of use allowing the same powers as property management concerning the share in the company.
The mission and basic duty of the Design Terminál is to improve, through its facilities, the level of the Hungarian design culture, the exploitation of the opportunities in design and the utilisation of the well qualified designers’ creativity and knowledge, which may contribute to improving the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy and the living quality of the population. In order to fulfil these duties, the Design Terminál pays attention to and records the achievements of Hungarian design, observes the international trends, gives help to the cooperation between designers and their potential partners, supports the developments of design as professional culture as well as the integration of Hungarian design and the strengthening of its position by organising trainings, exhibitions, applications and other projects.
Under the patronage of the HDC the Design Week in Budapest was organised for the sixth time, offering 87 events under the name “Creative Energies” in 118 sites between 2 and 11 October 2009 for nearly 60 thousand visitors interested in object and design culture. The exhibition “Graphifest” presenting the latest achievements of the Hungarian design graphics was also organised by Design Terminál between 6 and 30 November 2009. The content of the website www.designterminal.hu operated by Design Terminál has been extended by some case studies describing the successful application of design and by the presentations of 140 graduates who have just finished their studies at the three Hungarian institutions for designer training.
D-stat-2010.docx - MS Office 2007
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of industrial design documents and of secondary sources of industrial design information, i.e., official gazettes
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INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY EDUCATION
In the last few decades, the HPO has played an important role in disseminating IP knowledge through its training activities. The two-year long advanced level industrial property course organised by the HPO is a significant element of the development of the Hungarian industrial property culture and of the training of a new generation of professionals. At the end of the course launched in 2007, 22 persons were given an advanced level qualification in industrial property protection, and an additional 10 participants worked on their theses. In September the HPO launched the advanced level industrial property course with the participation of 55 persons, according to the amended provisions on industrial property qualification [Decree 2/2008 (VIII. 22.) TNM].
The intermediate level industrial property course was attended by staff members of patent attorneys' or law offices, the Hungarian Economy Development Centre, the National Office for Research and Technology, the Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard, innovation agencies, pharmaceutical companies, university knowledge centres and enterprises, 46 persons passed the exam successfully. The Office gave the opportunity to obtain the intermediate level industrial property qualification at the Károly Róbert College for the fourth time, 36 persons passed the exam successfully. Moreover, 13 students applied for the exam of the intermediate level industrial property course at the Agriculture Faculty of the College of Szolnok.
The special industrial property trainings organized for the research and education sector give an excellent framework for disseminating the industrial property culture. Under the cooperation with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the HPO organized one-day industrial property trainings on the issues of practical application of IP protection for the staff members of the network of research institutes on three occasions.
Based on the cooperation agreements concluded with 20 major Hungarian institutions of higher education the students can obtain up-to-date IP knowledge in graduate, post-graduate and in distance learning trainings. 78 applications were received to the invitation published by the HPO for assistance with dissertations. The modern distance learning programme complemented with research - with the participation of more than 220 students - contributed to the spread of knowledge on IP protection at the Ergonomics and Psychology Faculty of Budapest University of Technology and Economics, as well as at the University of Debrecen.
The industrial property protection training organized - with the support of the Grants and Innovation Centre - for the tutors of Eötvös Loránd University was successful, as well as the IP protection training organized as a part of basic business education, with the participation of INNOSTART National Business and Innovation Centre Foundation.
The HPO participated with tutors for the first time on the two-year long course - as a preparation for the European patent attorney exam - organized by CEIPI (Centre d'Etudes Internationales de la Propriété Intellectuelle) and the Hungarian Chamber of Patent Attorneys.
DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY AND COPYRIGHT CULTURE, CUSTOMER SERVICE
In compliance with the international trends and the requirements for national offices, the HPO continued to strengthen its quality service provider character. Through its industrial property services, customer services, IT and education programs, the HPO improved the conditions of awareness, information and education in the domestic industrial property and copyright culture.
INNOVATION SUPPORT, COMPETITION PROMOTION
The HPO contributed to innovation support in Hungary with the special tools of IP protection. Its purpose is to exert an influence of measurable efficiency on IP-awareness and activities of the major target groups of the national innovation sphere (particularly SMEs, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, high education).
The internationally reputed Action Plan Promoting Industrial Property Competitiveness was re-launched under the name of VIVACE+ within the cooperation of the National Office of Research and Technology (NKTH) and the HPO. 14 regional organisations including several former partners of the HPO (Chamber of Commerce and Industry, PATLIB centre) and also some recently joined organisations (ITD Hungary, SEED Foundation for Small Enterprise Economic Development) participated in the programme focusing on raising the industrial property knowledge of enterprises. VIVACE+ is based on the following four pillars: 1) enhancing the assistance in innovation; 2) improving industrial property services of; 3) promotion of IP protection and development of regional network; 4) education, content development and providing information in the field of industrial property.
A questionnaire survey on the awareness of industrial property of Hungarian entrepreneurs was prepared with the assistance of the Foundation for Hungarian Business Research and with the involvement of more than four hundred SMEs. The analysis described and evaluated the changes in industrial property awareness of enterprises in the past four years.
Linked to the institutions of higher education as recognised knowledge centres, the industrial property information centres, the so called PATLIB centres were operated at six universities outside Budapest with the professional assistance of the HPO. According to the contracts concluded between the University of Miskolc, the University of Szeged, NYME-ERFARET Nonprofit Kft. and the HPO, the information points in the libraries of the universities, in the Office for the Utilisation of Research Products and Technology Transfer of the University of Pécs, in the Genomnanotech Knowledge Center in Debrecen and in the Regional Knowledge Centre for Vehicle Industry in Győr are parts of the PATLIB network in-line with the standards of EPO. They provide information on patents mainly for researchers, tutors, inventors and SMEs.
Determining the value of Hungarian-owned intellectual assets is a key element of the involvement of capital from external sources. As a further step of the research and development activities focusing on the adoption of the internationally used IP valuation methodology, the HPO launched a series of symposia in cooperation with four European IP offices (Finland, Austria, UK and Hungary). The first meeting was held in November 2008 in Budapest, the second one in Helsinki on 18-19 May 2009 on the economic and business perspectives of IP valuation. Connecting to the international cooperation in methodology the HPO initiated the establishment of an IP valuation forum, the site of which is available in English through the homepage of the HPO (http://ipvaluation.hpo.hu/), so providing an information platform for enterprises, researchers, universities and investors.
The adaptation of the international methodology of IP valuation to Hungarian circumstances continued, the pilot works for IP valuation of technical solutions elaborated in academic research institutions, being partly under patent protection, were commenced based on the cooperation agreement with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
In order to promote the utilisation of intellectual property, in March 2008 the National Office for Research and Technology - upon the initiative of the HPO and to the debit of the Research and Technology Innovation Fund - announced a competition titled "Obtaining Industrial Property Protection for Hungarian Inventions in Foreign Countries" No. IPARJOG_08 with a frame amount of HUF 200 million, to which the applications could be submitted till 31 December 2009. The Office actively participated in the work of the jury, assessing 116 projects received till the end of the year, of which the jury supported 83 applications.
PARTNERS IN PROFESSIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION
The HPO established professional, training and other cooperation with several institutions, the most significant ones are the following:
Professional cooperation
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungarian Association for the Protection of Industrial Property and Copyright, Hungarian Association for Innovation, Hungarian Academy of Engineering, Association of Hungarian Inventors, Hungarian Research Student Association, NOVOFER Foundation, Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Journalists of the Federation of Technical and Scientific Societies, National Police Headquarters, Hungarian Finance and Customs Guard, Typotex Electronic Publishing Company, ITD Hungary, INNOSTART National Business and Innovation Centre, SEED Foundation, Ötlet Klub 13 Egyesület (Idea Club 13 Association)
Cooperation in higher education
Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest Tech Polytechnical Institution, University of Debrecen, Eötvös Loránd University, Harsányi János College, Károly Róbert College, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, University of Miskolc, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, University of West Hungary, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, University of Pécs, Semmelweis University, University of Szeged, Szent István University, Szolnok University College, International Business School, Police College
Professional communication agreements
Hungarian Television - Delta (TV series on science), Duna Television - Heuréka - Solart Film, Élet és Tudomány Association (scientific association), Jogtudományi Közlöny (Gazette of Jurisprudence), Mérnökújság (engineers newspaper), Napi Gazdaság (economic daily), Világgazdaság (economic daily), Gazdasági Rádió (economic radio), Agrárium, MAG (Hungarian economic development centre), Tudományos Ismeretterjesztő Társulat (scientific educational association), Természet Világa (World of Nature, scientific gazette), Természet-Tudomány Alapítvány (Nature-Science Foundation), Gépgyártás folyóirat (magazine on machine manufacturing).
Education-2010.docx
IX.Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office’s website that:
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