Focus on Intellectual Property, 2008 - Karanovic & Nikolic

FOCUS ON 

INTELLECTUAL 

PROPERTY 

Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Croatia 

Kosovo 

Macedonia 

Montenegro 

Serbia 

Slovenia

FOCUS ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 

Publisher: "Karanovic & Nikolic” Law Office 

Lepenicka 7, Belgrade; +381 11 3094 200 

www.karanovic-nikolic.co.yu 

Editors: Patricia Gannon & Dragomir Kojic 

Design and prepress: Buzz advertising, Belgrade 

Print production: Vizartis, Belgrade 

Copyright: © Karanovic & Nikolic, 2008. All rights reserved. 

Circulation: 500 copies

I N T R O D U C T I O N 

Intellectual Property Matters 

The aim in writing this book was to outline country specific information on intellectual property protection 

in seven countries in South East Europe. Historically a troubled past of Europe, today it represents a 

market of over 60 million people and has shown growth in GDP which outstrips the EU. With the influx 

of foreign investment and greater exposure to international best practice these emerging markets are 

confident about their new place in the world. 

Intellectual property protection has gained strength in all these markets-most international conventions 

apply here and most local agencies and IP offices are working hard to retrain staff and act proactively to 

ensure that the often most valuable assets of a business are protected. 

Our Firm is active in all these markets - either directly through our branch offices or working together 

with colleagues who have kindly agreed to contribute content. Our aim is to ensure a seamless service 

for IP professionals from all over the world as they approach this still undiscovered part of Europe! 

May 2008

C O N T E N T S 

Bosnia and Herzegovina.......................................................................................................3 

Croatia...................................................................................................................................15 

Kosovo.................................................................................................................................. 24 

Macedonia............................................................................................................................31 

Montenegro..........................................................................................................................41 

Serbia.....................................................................................................................................51 

Slovenia................................................................................................................................ 60

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 

in BRIEF 

Hungary 

Slovenia 

Zagreb 

Croatia 

Hungary 

Bosnia and 

Herzegovina 

Sarajevo 

Belgrade 

Serbia 

A d r i a t i c S e a 

Italy 

Montenegro Pristina 

Kosovo 

Podgorica 

Bulgaria 

Skopje 


 

Albania 

Population: 4.0 million 

Population per sq. km: 60 

Population growth: 2.6% 

Life expectancy (2000): 70 years 

Population below national poverty line: 19 % 

GDP per capita (current US$): US$ 1,206 

GDP (current US$): US$ 4,808 million 

GDP Growth: 5% 

M e d i t e r r a n e a n 

S e a 

National Name: Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Presidency, Chairman of the (rotating): Borjana 

Kristo (2007) 

Prime Minister: Nikola Spiric (2007) 

Total area: 19,741 sq mi (51,129 sq km) 

Population (2007 est.): 4,552,198 (all data dealing 

with population are subject to considerable error 

because of the dislocations caused by military 

action and ethnic cleansing) (growth rate: 1.0%); 

birth rate: 8.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 9.6/1000; 

life expectancy: 78.2; density per sq mi: 231 

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Sarajevo, 

581,500 (unofficial) 

Other large cities: Banja Luka, 189,700; Tuzla 

119,200; Mostar, 90,800 

Monetary unit: Marka 

Languages: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian 

Ethnicity/race: Bosniak 48%, Serb 37.1%, Croat 

14.3%, other 0.6% (2000) 

Religions: Islam 40%, Orthodox 31%, Roman 

Catholic 15%, other 14% 

Literacy rate: n.a. 

Greece 

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): 

$28.59 billion (note: Bosnia has a large informal 

sector that could also be as much as 50% of official 

GDP); per capita $6,800. 

Real growth rate: 5.3%. 

Inflation: 1.4%. 

Unemployment: 45.5% official rate. 

Arable land: 14%. 

Agriculture: wheat, corn, fruits, vegetables; livestock. 

Labor force: 1.026 million (2001); agriculture n.a., 

industry n.a., services n.a. 

Industries: steel, coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, manganese, 

bauxite, vehicle assembly, textiles, tobacco 

products, wooden furniture, tank and aircraft assembly, 

domestic appliances, oil refining. 

Natural resources: coal, iron ore, bauxite, copper, 

lead, zinc, chromite, cobalt, manganese, nickel, 

clay, gypsum, salt, sand, forests, hydropower. 

Exports: $2.7 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): metals, 

clothing, wood products. 

Imports: $6.8 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery 

and equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs. 

Major trading partners: Italy, Croatia, Germany, 

Austria, Slovenia, Hungary (2004). 

f o c u s o n I N T E L L E C T U A L P R O P E R t y

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 

Introduction 

The current legal regime of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the “BA”) regarding intellectual property consists of 

two laws and five by-laws which regulate both the industrial property law and the copyright and related 

rights law (the “Regulations”). The Regulations entered into force in 2002. Furthermore, BA has ratified 

the main conventions relating to intellectual property protection. 

 

f o c u s o n I N T E L L E C T U A L P R O P E R t y 

Regulatory Framework 

The following laws regulate intellectual property rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina: 

Law on Copyright and Related Rights (2002) 

 

Law on Industrial Property (2002), governing trademarks, patents, industrial design and geographical 

indications. 

Although the Law on Patents and Distinction Marks (1993) (the “Old Law”) ceased to be valid as of the 

moment when the current law, i.e. the Law on Industrial Property came into force, the provisions of the 

Old Law governing inventions, i.e. new forms of figure, picture or drawing created during employment, 

and technical improvements, are still valid. 

The following by-laws regulate the intellectual property rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina: 

Regulation on Trademark (2002) 

Regulation on Geographical Indications (2002) 

Regulation on Patent Recognition Proceedings (2002) 

Regulation on Industrial Design (2002) 

 

Regulation on Expert Criteria for Performing the Activity of Copyright and Related Rights Enforcement 

(2002). 

The following conventions relating to intellectual property protection have been ratified in Bosnia and 

Herzegovina: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (the “WIPO Convention”) 

Paris Convention for Industrial Property Protection – Paris Union (the “Paris Convention”) 

Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Trademarks – Madrid Union (the 

“Madrid Convention”) 

Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purpose of 

Trademarks Registration (the “Nice Agreement”) 

Locarno Agreement Establishing the International Classification for Industrial Design (the “Locarno 

Agreement”) 

Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works- Bern Union

Patent Cooperation Treaty( the “PCT”) 

Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite 

(the “Satellites Convention”) 

Washington Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits 

Trademark Law Treaty. 

The state authority competent for intellectual property rights is the Institute for intellectual property 

(the “Institute”). The Institute maintains the Registries for each of the industrial property rights, as 

well as the Registry of the representatives authorized for industrial property protection. The Institute 

publishes the Official Journal in which the most important particulars of the industrial property rights 

entered in the Registries are stated (the “Official Journal”). Regarding the decisions passed by the Institute 

within the industrial property registration proceedings, an appeal may be filed with the Institute’s 

Commission for Appeals within 15 days. No appeal can be filed against the decisions of the Commission, 

but they can be subject to the administrative dispute procedure before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina; 

an action for initiation of such procedure should be filed with the Institute. 

Foreign natural persons and legal entities enjoy in BA the same rights with respect to the industrial property 

protection as domestic natural persons and legal entities if such rights derive from international 

agreements or from the principle of reciprocity. However, foreign natural persons and legal entities may 

obtain industrial property rights in the proceedings before the Institute only if represented by the authorized 

representative, i.e. trademark or patent agents registered with the Institute. 

 

Practice 

Copyright and Related Rights 

The author enjoys moral and pecuniary rights with regard to his/her work of authorship from the moment 

of its creation and there are no formal requirements for obtaining copyright. Therefore, there is no 

need for filing an application for registration or deposition of the work of authorship in order to obtain 

copyright. 

The author is exclusively entitled to exploitation of his/her work, as well as to the pertaining moral rights. 

However, he/she may assign his/her right to exploitation to third parties, both natural persons and legal 

entities, by the authorship agreement. Furthermore, his/her rights can be assigned by inheritance. Copyright 

lasts throughout the lifetime of the author and continues 70 years following the first day of the 

year following his/her death; in the case of joint authorship, the term begins from the last death. In the 

case of anonymous authors and works under pseudonym, i.e. in the case when a legal entity is the holder 

of pecuniary rights with regard to the work of authorship, the term begins from the date of publishing. 


Performer related rights last for 50 years from the end of the year during which the performance was 

recorded. If the performance was not recorded, the term begins from the end of the year when it was 

performed. Phonogram producer related rights last for 50 years following the end of the year during 

which the phonogram was broadcast and if the phonogram was not broadcast followng the end of the 

year during which it was recorded. Broadcasting organization related rights last for 50 years following 

the end of the year of broadcasting. 

In BA, foreign authors enjoy the same rights with respect to copyright as domestic authors provided that 

they are residents of BA or, if they are not, that their works of authorship have been published in BA for 

the first time ever or, if their works have been published for the first time in another country, that their 

publication in BA was performed within 30 days from the date of their first publication ever. If any of the 

stated requirements is not fulfilled, foreign authors will still enjoy the same rights as domestic authors if 

such rights derive from the international agreements or from the principle of reciprocity. 

In the event of a copyright or related right infringement, the holder of the infringed right may file an ac-

tion by which he/she may request particularly the following: termination of the infringement, destruction 

or alteration of the infringing objects, destruction or alteration of the tools and equipment used in 

manufacturing of the infringing objects, reimbursement of the pecuniary damages, and/or publication 

of the court decision at the expense of the defendant. In addition, if the infringement was intentional or 

arose out of negligence, the plaintiff may request from the defendant the compensation in the amount 

of up to two times the contractual or usual license fee he/she would have obtained if the work had been 

used lawfully, irrespective of whether the infringement has caused any pecuniary damages to him/her 

or not. Furthermore, the court is entitled to adjudicate fair money compensation to the author or a performer 

due to infringement of their moral rights, irrespective of whether pecuniary damages reimbursement 

has already been adjudicated or whether any pecuniary damages have been caused at all. 

At the request of the holder of the right who makes it credible that his/her copyright or related right 

has been infringed or will be infringed, the court may order the provisional measure (such as temporary 

seizure or removal from the market of the objects with which the infringement has been made or which 

represent the means of infringement or which were created as a consequence of the infringement or 

which may serve as the evidence of the infringement). The procedure initiated by request of the right 

holder is urgent. 

 

At the request of the holder of the right who makes it credible that his/her right would be infringed by 

import or export of certain goods, the customs authority may order such goods to be retained; in that 

case, the holder of the right and the person entitled to exploit such goods, should be notified about it 

without delay. If no objection is filed within 14 days as of the date when the notification was received, 

the customs authority will order seizure of the temporarily retained goods. 


Regarding the penal policy, the Law on Copyright and Related Rights regulates responsibility for criminal 

offences (monetary fines or imprisonment up to five years) and petty offences (monetary fines). 

Trademark 

In order to obtain a trademark for the territory 

of BA, the application should be filed with the 

Institute. The application should include the 

following: 

 

 

 

name and address/registered seat of the natural 

or legal person who filed the application 

(the “Applicant”), including the information 

on the representative if the application was 

filed by the representative 

the mark appearance, including the information 

whether the application relates to 

individual or collective trademark, whether 

the mark is verbal or graphical, three-dimensional, 

whether it should be protected as a 

black-and-white or colour mark (if it should 

be protected as a colour mark, the relevant 

colours or colour combination should also 

be indicated) 

list of goods and/or services to which the 

mark relates, in accordance with the international 

classification of goods and services 

established by the Nice Agreement

information on the priority right if it was claimed. 

Proof of payment of the filing fee and procedural costs, as well as the power of attorney (if the application 

was filed by the representative), should be submitted together with the application. 

The application form should be signed and sealed by the Applicant or by his/her representative if the 

application was filed by the representative. 

After initiation of the trademark registration proceedings by filing an application, the Institute will examine 

whether the application contains all the above-stated information (formal examination) and if so, 

it will examine whether the mark which is the subject-matter of the application fulfils the requirements 

to be registered as a trademark. If all the requirements are fulfilled, the Institute will issue the decision 

on the trademark recognition for the territory of BA, provided that the applicant has paid the prescribed 

fees and procedural costs. Otherwise, the Institute will pass the decision rejecting the application. After 

entering the recognized trademark in the appropriate register, the Institute will issue the Certificate on 

Trademark provided that the prescribed fee has been paid. 

The trademark holder has the exclusive right to use the trademark in the market for marking all the 

goods and/or services for which the trademark has been recognized. Additionally, he/she is also entitled 

to use the sign “R” or any other sign in order to inform other participants in the market that his/her mark 

is a registered trademark. 

Trademark lasts for 10 years following the application filing date and may be renewed for an indefinite 

number of times. If a trademark ceased to be valid due to non-payment of the prescribed fee and procedural 

costs, the trademark holder has the exclusive right to file the request for a new registration of the 

same trademark in his/her name, within one year from the day when the trademark ceased to be valid. 

 

The application for the international registration of the mark in the proceedings before the World Intellectual 

Property Organization (the “WIPO”) can also be filed with the Institute which will forward it to 

WIPO. 

Decision on the trademark registration and/or international registration of the trademark for BA may be 

annulled in whole or for some goods and/or services comprised, if it is determined that, at the time of 

issuance of the decision, the requirements for trademark registration were not met or if after the decision 

on trademark registration has been passed the trademark has become a generic term for the goods 

and/or services for which it was registered. The annulment is possible at any time during the term of 

protection, either ex officio or at the request of an interested party or the State Prosecutor. The request 

for annulment should be accompanied with the appropriate evidence. If the person requesting the annulment 

withdraws the request during the proceedings, the Institute may continue the proceedings ex 

officio or at the request of the trademark holder. 

Patent 

In order to obtain a patent for the territory of BA, the application should be filed with the Institute. The 

application should include the following: 

 

 

 

 

 

request for grant of the patent (the request should include particulars about the applicant, particulars 

about the inventor or a statement to the effect that the inventor does not wish to be mentioned 

in the application, and the title of the invention clearly reflecting its essence) 

description of the invention 

patent claims 

drawings referred to in the description of the invention and patent claims, if necessary 

abstract (setting out the essential content of the invention and serving exclusively to provide technical 

information). 




The application form should be signed and sealed by the Applicant or by his/her representative if the 

application was filed by the representative. 

A separate patent application should be filed for each individual invention. However, a single application 

may be filed for a number of inventions if the inventions are mutually so linked as to form a single 

general inventive concept. 

At the applicant’s request, the patent application may be altered to become an application for design 

registration. This alteration is possible throughout the proceedings, i.e. until the Institute passes the 

decision on the application. Such converted application retains the filing date of the patent application. 

The conditions for patent protection are novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability. 

 


Exceptions to patentability are the following inventions: 

 

 

inventions the publication or the commercial use of which would be contrary to public order or morality 

inventions concerning methods for treatment by surgery or diagnostic methods or therapy practiced 

directly on the human or animal body, except for products or substances and compositions for use in 

any of these methods. 

In addition, the following creations are not considered inventions and therefore, cannot be patented: 

 

 

 

 

 

discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods 

aesthetic creations 

schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business 

computer programs 

presentation of information defined by the content of the information. 

After the Institute receives the application, it will examine whether the application complies with all 

the requirements. If during examination of the application the Institute discovers any deficiencies, it will 

request from the applicant to remedy them within 90 days; otherwise, the Institute will reject the application. 

After examination of the application, provided that there are no deficiencies and that the fees 

and procedural costs for publication of the application have been paid, the application will be published 

in the Official Journal upon the expiry of eighteen months from the filing date of the application or from 

the claimed date of priority. At the request of the applicant, the patent application may be published 

earlier, but not before the expiry of 90 days from the filing date. After publication of the application, 

the Institute issues the decision by which it grants the patent provided that the applicant has paid the 

expenses for issuance of the Patent Certificate and Patent Specification. The granted patent will be entered 

in the Register. Upon the expiry of the ninth year after the application filing, the patent owner or 

the holder of the exclusive right over the patent is obliged to submit to the Institute the evidence that 

the patented invention fulfils all the conditions for patent protection; otherwise, the patent will cease to 

be valid. On the basis of the submitted evidence, the Institute will issue the decision determining that 

the conditions for patent protection are fulfilled (completely or partially; if the conditions are fulfilled 

partially, the Institute will accordingly limit further term of patent claims) or the decision by which prior 

registration of the patent will be annulled. 

The patent holder, as well as the patent applicant, has the exclusive right to prevent any third party not 

having his/her consent from: 

 

 

making, using, offering for sale, or placing on the market a product made by means of the protected 

invention or from importing a product for such purposes 

using, offering for sale, placing on the market or importing for such purposes a product directly obtained 

by the patented process.

However, there are certain limitations to the exclusive right conferred by a patent, i.e. certain acts which 

a patent holder cannot forbid to the third parties (e.g. acts done with regard to private and non-commercial 

use of the patented invention). Furthermore, if a protected product is placed on the market in 

the territory of BA by the patent owner or with his/her consent, the person coming into possession of 

such product may use and dispose of it freely (exhaustion of the patent owner rights). In addition, a patent 

has no effect against a person acting in good faith that, before the date of priority, already started 

exploiting the protected invention in production in the territory of BA or has made all the necessary 

preparations to initiate such use (the right of prior user); however, that person is entitled to continue exploiting 

the invention exclusively for production purposes, in his/her own plant or in the plant of another 

person for his/her own needs, and cannot assign his/her right to exploitation of the invention to another 

person, except together with the enterprise or part of the enterprise in which the preparation for use or 

the use of the invention has taken place. 

A patent, i.e. shortened term patent is acquired by entering into the Register. A patent lasts for 20 years 

from the application filing date, i.e. shortened term patent lasts for 10 years from the application filing 

date, provided that the prescribed fees for maintaining the right are paid. A patent can last for up 

to five years upon the expiry of 20 years, but only in exceptional cases, namely only if the state of war 

or similar extraordinary circumstances have been declared – the prolongation lasts for as long as such 

circumstances do, or if the subject-matter of the patent is a product or a process which requires, prior 

to initiation of its commercial use, a certain legally regulated procedure for issuing the approval – the 

prolongation lasts for as long as such procedure does. The holder of a patent, i.e. shortened term patent 

may relinquish his/her right by filing a written statement with the Institute, in which case his/her right 

will cease to be valid on the first day following the day when he submitted such statement. 

 

Decision on a patent, i.e. shortened term patent registration may be annulled at any time during the 

term of protection if it is determined that, at the moment of issuance of the decision, the requirements 

for patent, i.e. shortened term patent registration have not been met. The annulment procedure may 

be initiated ex officio or upon the request of an interested party or the State Prosecutor. If the person 

requesting the annulment withdraws the request during the proceedings, the Institute may continue the 

proceedings ex officio. 

If the applicant or the patent holder supplements or enhances the invention which is the subject matter 

of the original application or of the basic patent, he may file an application for the patent of addition to 

cover the supplements or enhancements, within 18 months from the date when the basic patent application 

was filed. The patent of addition may not be obtained with regard to a shortened term patent. If 

the applicant relinquishes his/her basic patent right, the proceedings concerning the application for the 

patent of addition will be terminated. At the request of the basic patent holder, the court will determine 

that the patent of addition will become the basic patent, provided that the decision on the basic patent 

registration was annulled or the basic patent ceased to be valid; this request may be filed within three 

months from the date when the decision on the basic patent registration was annulled, i.e. from the date 

when the basic patent ceased to be valid. 

Although the Institute is the state authority competent for patent registration, the applications of domestic 

natural persons and legal entities concerning the inventions significant for defence or security 

of the country (secret inventions) should be submitted to the competent Internal Affairs Ministries (the 

“Ministries”); if the Ministries establish that the subject matter of such patent application filed with the 

Ministries is not a secret invention, the application will be forwarded to the Institute which will continue 

the proceedings initiated by its filing. Secret inventions can be exploited exclusively by the Ministries and 

the inventor of the patented secret invention is entitled to remuneration irrespective of how much the 

patented secret invention is actually used with regard to defence or security of the country. The patent 

for secret invention shall not be published. Secret invention can be patented abroad but only with the 

authorization of the Ministries. 


The international patent application may also be filed with the Institute further to PCT (the “PCT Application”). 

The PCT Application may be filed with the Institute as a receiving office (if the applicant is a 

natural person who is a national of BA or a legal person whose principal place of business is in BA) or as

a designated or elected office (regarding the PCT applications in which BA has been, further to PCT, designated 

or elected for granting of a national patent). If the Institute is acting as a designated or elected 

office, the PCT application should be filed with the Institute within thirty-four months from the date of 

priority and should be published in the Official Journal upon the expiry of 18 months following the filing 

date of the application or the claimed date of priority; at the request of the applicant, the PCT application 

may be published earlier, but not before the expiry of 90 days following the filing date. 

10 

Technical Improvement 

Although the Law on Industrial Property does not include any provisions regarding technical improvements, 

the provisions of the Old Law regarding technical improvements are still valid. Namely, as prescribed 

by the Old Law, a technical improvement is considered to be any rationalization of the work 

accomplished by a change of common technical assets and procedures in all phases of the work process, 

by which certain improvement has been made, such as an improvement in product quality, savings in 

material and energy, or better employment of machinery and installations. Technical improvements 

cannot be patented but they can be protected by the decision on acceptance of the technical improvement 

issued by the company where the author of the technical improvement works (the “Author”). The 

author is obliged to notify in writing the company where he works and where he has made the technical 

improvement, about the technical improvement. On the basis of such notification, the company is 

obliged to examine the technical improvement within three months and to notify the Author in writing 

whether it accepts it. If so, the company is obliged to start using the technical improvement within one 

year. If the company fails to accept the improvement, the Author may offer the technical improvement 

to another company. The Author is entitled to remuneration for use of the technical improvement in the 

period of up to five years following the day when its use started. 


Industrial Design 

In order to obtain industrial design in the territory of BA, an application should be filed with the Institute. 

Such application should contain: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

request for registration 

particulars about the applicant 

particulars about the author or annotation that he/she has waived the right to be cited 

indication whether the application is made for one or multiple designs, and in case of multiple application, 

indication of the number of designs (under the Locarno Agreement, one application may include 

the request for registration of one or more, i.e. up to 100 designs, provided that all of them relate to the 

products from the same class of the international classification established by the Locarno Agreement) 

actual and brief name of the industrial design 

two-dimensional representation of the design/photography or graphic representation of the product 

to which the protection relates 

information identifying the representative if the applicant has appointed one. 



The application form should be signed and sealed by the applicant or by his/her representative if the application 

was filed by the representative. 

Industrial design will be protected if it is new and if it has individual character. Industrial design will be considered 

new if the identical form of the product or the part of the product had not been made available to the 

public before the day when the application was filed, i.e. before the priority date, if priority was claimed.

After the Institute receives the application, it will examine whether the application complies with all 

the requirements. If during examination of the application the Institute discovers any deficiencies, it 

will request from the applicant to remedy them within 90 days; otherwise, the Institute will reject the 

application. After examination of the application, the Institute examines whether the product complies 

with all the requests for recognizing industrial design. Throughout the proceedings, the application may 

be altered to become the patent application. If all recognition requirements are met, the Institute will 

pass the decision on the industrial design recognition, provided that the applicant has paid the fee, the 

procedural costs for maintenance of the right and the costs of industrial design publication in the Official 

Journal and submitted the proof of payments to the Institute. 

Industrial design confers to its holder the exclusive right to prevent any third party not having his/her 

consent from making, selling or importing the products that appear like the design or are incorporated in 

a product which is a copy of the design or predominantly represents a copy of the design, provided that 

such actions have been carried out for commercial purposes. However, there are certain limitations of 

the exclusive right conferred by industrial design i.e. certain acts which the right holder cannot forbid to 

the third parties (e.g. acts done privately and for non-commercial purposes, acts done for the purpose of 

public notification or education, if these acts are in accordance with good business practice and are not 

causing any damage to the right holder). 

Industrial design is acquired on the basis of the decision on the industrial design recognition and by entering 

into the appropriate register. After the registration, the Institute issues the Certificate on Design 

to the right holder. Industrial design lasts for 10 years following the application filing date, provided that 

the prescribed fees for maintaining the right are paid. 

The decision on industrial design recognition may be annulled at any time during the term of protection 

if it is determined that, at the time of issuance of the decision, the requirements for industrial design 

recognition were not met. The annulment procedure may be initiated ex officio or at the request of an 

interested party or the State Prosecutor. The request for annulment should be accompanied with the 

appropriate evidence. If the person requesting the annulment withdraws the request during the proceedings, 

the Institute may continue the proceedings ex officio or at the request of the industrial design 

holder. 

11 


Geographical Indications 

In order to register a geographical indication for the territory of BA, the application should be filed with 

the Institute. The application may be filed by associations of natural persons and legal entities, chambers, 

municipalities, local communities or state authorities. The application should include particularly 

the following:

equest for registration 

name and address/registered seat of the applicant 

the geographical indication appearance 

type of the goods to which the geographical indication relates. 

The proof of payment of the filing fee and procedural costs should be submitted together with the application. 

The application form should be signed and sealed by the applicant. In addition, the application 

should be accompanied with the Rules containing particulars about the geographical indication regarding 

its appearance and its use (the “Rules”). 

After initiation of the proceedings by filing an application, the Institute will examine whether the application 

complies with all the requirements. If during examination of the application the Institute discovers 

any deficiencies, it will request the applicant to remedy them within 90 days; otherwise, the Institute 

will reject the application. After examination of the application, provided that there are no deficiencies, 

and that the fees and procedural costs have been paid, the Institute will pass the decision on geographical 

indication registration. Geographical indication will be entered in the Register and published in the 

Official Journal. No fees should be paid for maintenance of the geographical indication. 

12 


Geographical indication is a collective right which may be used by all the market participants that manufacture 

and place on the market the goods to which the indication relates, in accordance with the Rules. 

Use of geographical indication by unauthorized persons is forbidden if translation of the geographical 

indication was used or if the geographical indication contains a marking like “type”, “style”, “imitation” 

or similar, or if the goods do not origin from the territory to which the indication relates even if authentic 

origin of the goods is stated. 

Duration of geographical indication is not time limited. However, it will cease to be valid if it is, at the 

request of the competent state authorities, erased from the registry. 

Transfer of Industrial Property 

Trademarks, patents and industrial designs can be assigned to third parties by the holder of the right or 

by the applicant. In order to be legally binding, the assignment should be in writing. In addition, the assignment 

should be entered into the appropriate register of the Institute; otherwise, the assignment will 

not be legally binding towards third parties. The procedure for registration of the assignment should be 

initiated at the request of any of the assignment parties and published in the Official Journal. Collective 

trademark and geographical indication cannot be assigned. 

The right to use a trademark, i.e. the right to exploit a patent or an industrial design can be licensed to 

third parties by the holder of the right or the applicant. In order to be legally binding, it should be in a 

form of a licensing agreement. The licensing agreement should be made in writing and entered into the 

appropriate register of the Institute. The procedure for registration of the licensing agreement should be 

initiated at the request of any of the agreement parties and published in the Official Journal. Collective 

trademark and geographical indication cannot be licensed. 

Furthermore, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina may, at the request of the interested party, issue 

a compulsory license, if the patent holder does not exploit the patented invention or exploits it insufficiently 

for fulfilling the needs of domestic market and if he/she refuses to enter into the licensing 

agreement or sets unreasonable conditions for such licensing. The request for grant of the compulsory 

licence cannot be filed before the expiry of the period of four years following the filing date of the patent 

application or three years following the date of granting of the patent, whichever of the two time 

limits expires later; however, if exploitation of the protected invention is in public interest (public health, 

defence, environment protection) or of significant importance for certain field of economy, compulsory 

license may be granted prior to the expiry of the specified time limit. The compulsory licence will not 

be granted if the patent owner provides legal reasons for non-use or insufficient use of the protected

invention. If the compulsory license is granted, the patent owner will be entitled to remuneration in 

accordance with the economic value of the granted compulsory license. The scope and duration of the 

compulsory licence shall be limited to the purpose for which it has been granted. The compulsory licence 

cannot be exclusive and it may be assigned only with the enterprise or part of the enterprise in which it 

is used. The compulsory licence will be granted for the supply of the domestic market. 

Court Protection of Industrial Property 

A holder of an industrial property right may file the following actions with the competent court: 

 

 

 

action for infringement of the industrial property right (the “Infringement Action”) 

action for challenge of a patent, industrial design or trademark (the “Challenge Action”) 

action for recognition of the authorship (the “Authorship Recognition Action”). 

In the event of an industrial property right infringement, the Infringement Action may be filed and the 

plaintiff may request particularly the following: termination of the infringement, destruction of the infringing 

objects and infringing tools and equipment, reimbursement of pecuniary damages, publication 

of the court decision at the expense of the defendant. The Infringement Action may be filed by an applicant, 

the right holder, user of the geographical indication and a holder of the exclusive right relating 

to the infringed right, within three years following the day when the plaintiff became aware of the infringement 

and the identity of the infringer, but not later than five years as of the day when the infringement 

was performed. The proceedings on the Infringement Action shall be urgent. At the request of the 

plaintiff, the court may order a provisional measure by which such infringement of the right should be 

13 


avoided. In addition, the court may decide to secure the appropriate evidence related to the probable 

infringement. The request for granting provisional measure or securing the evidence should be accompanied 

with the evidence that the infringement has been made or is about to be made. The procedure 

on the request is urgent. 

The inventor, his/her heir or other legal descendant, may file the Challenge Action with the competent 

court requesting the court to declare him/her the patent holder, provided that the patent has been

granted in the name of the person who is not the inventor, his/her heir or other legal descendant. The 

author of an industrial design, his/her heir or other legal descendant, may file the Challenge Action with 

the competent court requesting the court to recall the industrial design, provided that the industrial 

design has been granted in the name of the person who is not the industrial design author, his/her heir or 

other legal descendant. Natural person or a legal entity which uses the mark registered as a trademark 

in the name of another person regarding the same or similar goods and/or services, for marking his/her 

goods and/or services in the market, may file the Challenge Action with the competent court requesting 

the court to declare him/her the trademark holder, provided that he proves that the mark was generally 

known as the mark used for marking his/her goods and/or services before the defendant has even filed 

the trademark application, within five years following the date when the trademark was entered into 

the appropriate register. 

The inventor, i.e. author of the industrial design, may file the Authorship Recognition Action with the 

competent court requesting the court to have him/her stated in all the documents regarding the patent, 

i.e. the industrial design. In addition, he/she may request publication of the court decision at the 

expense of the defendant and remuneration of the moral damages he has suffered. This action may be 

filed throughout the whole period of the patent, i.e. the industrial design duration. After the death of the 

inventor, i.e. author the action may be filed by his/her heirs. 

14 


Protection of the Industrial Property in Proceedings 

before the Customs Authorities 

At the request of the holder of the industrial property right who makes it credible that his/her right 

would be infringed by importing of certain goods, the customs authorities may order the following: inspection 

of the goods by the right holder or his/her representative and seizure, putting out of the market 

or destruction of the goods. The customs authorities are obliged to notify without delay the importer 

of the goods and the person to whom the goods belong about the measures taken. However, if the right 

holder fails to initiate the appropriate legal proceedings within seven days, the customs authorities will 

recall the measures taken. 

Penal Policy Regarding Industrial Property 

Regarding penal policy, the Law on Industrial Property regulates responsibility for criminal offences 

(monetary fines or imprisonment up to five years) and petty offences (monetary fines). 

*With kind thanks to Branko Maric Law Office for their contribute to this article. 

Contact list: 

Institute For Standards, Meterology 

And Intellectual Property 

of Bosnia And Herzegovina 

Hamdije Čemerlića 2/7 

Sarajevo 71000 

BosnIa and Herzegovina 

Tel: +387 (0) 33 652 765 

Fax: +387 (0) 33 652 757 

email: info@basmp.gov.ba 

http://www.fbihvlada.gov.ba/ 

Sine Qua Non 

Agency for Representation 

and Protection of Copyrights 

Branilaca Sarajeva 47 


Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Tel/Fax: +387 (0) 33 200 720; 

260 040; 260 041 

email: sqn@bih.net.ba 

www.sqn.ba 

Ministry of Finance and Treasury 

Trg BiH 1 


Tel: +387 33 205 345; 219 862 

Switchboard: ++387 33 219 923 

http://www.trezorbih.gov.ba/ 

Government of the Federation 

of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Alipašina 41 


Tel: + 387 33 650 – 143 

Fax: + 387 33 650 – 094 

http://www.fbihvlada.gov.ba/ 

Agency for Statistics 

of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Zelenih beretki 26 


Tel: +387 33 220 626 

Fax: +387 33 220 622 

http://www.bhas.ba/new/

CROATIA 

in BRIEF 

Hungary 

Ljubljana 

Slovenia 

Zagreb 

Croatia 

Hungary 

Bosnia and 

Herzegovina 

Sarajevo 

Belgrade 

Serbia 


Italy 


Kosovo 

Podgorica 

Bulgaria 

15 

Capital (and largest city): Zagreb 

Official languages: Croatian 

Government Parliamentary republic 

President: Stjepan Mesić 

Premier: Ivo Sanader 

Area: 

Total 56,542 km² 

21,831 sq mi 

Water (%) 0.2 

Population: 

2008 estimate 4,453,500 

GDP (PPP) 2008 estimate: 

Total $74.419 billion (IMF) 

Per capita $16,758 (IMF) 

GDP (nominal) 2008 estimate: 

Total $54.950 billion (IMF) 

Per capita $12,374 (IMF) 

Currency: kuna 

The Republic of Croatia (Republika Hrvatska), is a 

country at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, 

Central Europe, and the Balkans. Its capital is 

Zagreb. Croatia borders with Slovenia and Hungary 

to the north, Serbia to the northeast, Bosnia 

and Herzegovina to the east, Montenegro to the 

far southeast, and the Adriatic Sea to the south. 

Croatia is a candidate for membership of the European 

Union and is expecting NATO membership 

invitation in April 2008. On October 17, 2007 

Skopje 

Croatia became a non-permanent member of the 

United Nations 


Security Council for the 2008- 

2009 term. 

Albania 

Economy 

Greece 

The Economy of Croatia is a service-based economy, 

with the service sector accounting for 67% of 

the total GDP. 


S e a 

The preliminary GDP data for 2007 put Croatian 

GDP at 275,5 billion Croatian Kuna, or just over 

USD 12.400 per capita, putting Croatia ahead of 

the EU member states Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, 

Lithuania and Poland. 

The estimated Gross Domestic Product per capita 

in purchasing power parity in 2007 was around 

USD 16.540 or 54.2% of the EU average for the 

same year. 

Rijeka Container Port Shipbuilding dominates the 

industrial sector; with exports of over €1 billion 

annually, shipbuilding accounts for over 10% of 

exported goods. Food processing and chemical industry 

take significant portions of industrial output 

and are responsible for significant portion of 

exported goods. Industrial Sector represents 27% 

of Croatia’s total economic output, and agriculture 

represents 6%. 

Croatian agricultural sector subsists from exports 

of blue water fish, which in recent years experi- 


enced a tremendous surge in demand, mainly from 

Japan and South Korea. Croatia is a notable producer 

of organic foods and much of it is exported 

to the EU. Croatian wines, olive oils and lavender 

are in particularly high demand. 

Tourism is a notable source of income, particularly 

during the summer months but also more 

recently from winter months, due to an increase 

in popularity of snow sports such as skiing. With 

over 10 million foreign tourists annually, tourism 

generates revenue in excess of €7 billion. Croatia 

is ranked amongst the top 20 most popular 

tourist destinations in the world, and was voted 

the world’s top tourism destination of 2005 by 

Lonely Planet. 

Trade has finally begun to play major role in Croatian 

economic output. In 2007 Croatia exported 

goods in value of USD 12.84 billion (24.7 billion 

including service exports). Croatia has stable functioning 

market economy with the strong and stable 

currency, the Kuna. 

Croatia and Slovenia, the two westernmost republics 

in what was formerly known as Yugoslavia, 

alone accounted for nearly half of the total Yugoslavian 

GDP, and this reflected in overall living 

standard which in Croatia’s case was over 50% 

above the Yugoslav average, and close to 90% in 

Slovenia. Nevertheless, starting in the late 1980’s, 

at the beginning of the process of economic transition, 

Croatian economy suffered as result of deindustrialization, 

war destruction as well as losing 

the markets of Yugoslavia and the SEV. 

GDP per country: (year 2005) 

16 

Country 


Country Number of citizens GDP/Billion of euros Euros per capita 


Total Croatia 4 442 000 31.263 7038 

GDP per country: (year 2006) 

Country 


Country Number of citizens GDP/Billion of euros Euros per capita 

Total Croatia 4 440 000 34.220 7707 

The principal economic activities in the Republic of Croatia include: 

agriculture, 

the foodstuff, 

textile, 

wood and timber, 

metalworking, 

chemical and petroleum industries, 

the electrical manufacturing industry, 

shipbuilding, 

the shipping industry and 

tourism.

CROATIA 


Divjak, Topić & Bahtijarević 


Croatian legislation concerning intellectual property (hereinafter: “IP”) rights in its present form was 

mainly enacted in 2004 as a direct consequence of harmonizing of the national legislation with the EU 

acquis communautaire, required in the process of Croatian preparations for joining the European Union, 

and is complied with TRIPS Agreement. Currently, Croatian national IP legislation consists of the following 

Acts covering each IP field, respectively: 

Copyright and Related Rights Act (2003) 

Patent Act (2004) 

Trademark Act (2004) 

Industrial Design Act (2004) 

Act on Geographical Indications and Designations of Origin of Products and Services (2004) 

Act on the Protection of Topographies of Semiconductor Products (2004) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food Act (2007) – regarding provisions related to geographical indications and designations of origin 

Vine Act (2003) - regarding provisions related to geographical indications 

Trade Act (2003) – provisions related to unfair competition regarding intellectual property rights 

Consumer Protection Act (2007) – unfair business practice related to intellectual property rights 

Decree on Customs Relating to goods Suspecting to Infringe Particular Intellectual Property Rights 

(2006) 

Regulations on the Professional Criteria and Procedures for Granting Authorizations for Performing 

Collective Management of Rights and on Remunerations for the Work Done by the Council of Experts 

(2004) – regulating professional criteria fulfilled by the Associations for Collective Management of 


A rather important change in procedures for registration of industrial rights was made by amendments 

of the laws regulating patents, trademarks, designs, geographical indications and topographies of semiconductors 

in 2007 by introducing the appeal against the decisions of the Croatian State Intellectual 

Property Office (hereinafter: “the Croatian IP Office”) which handles the industrial rights registration 

procedures. Namely, according to the previous system, the only remedy against Croatian IP Office’s decisions 

was an administrative complaint before the Administrative Court, whereas these changes apart 

from being in compliance with the EU system for protection of industrial rights should result in a higher 

level of transparency and legal safety. The provisions regarding appeal in respective acts will be enacted 

as of 1 June 2008. 

Furthermore, the latest amendments of the Trademark Act and Industrial Design Act introduced provisions 

on Community Trademark and Community Design, stipulating that the effects of applications for 

Community Trademarks and Community Designs filed and/ or acquired before the day of the acceptance 

of the Republic of Croatia into the full membership of the European Union will automatically be 

extend to the territory of the Republic of Croatia. The latter provisions will enter into force on the day of 

the acceptance of the Republic of Croatia into the European Union. 

17 


Copyright 

18 

A work of authorship is, according to the Croatian Copyright and Related Rights Act, an original intellectual 

creation in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, having an individual character, irrespective 

of the manner and form of its expression, its type, value or purpose. Copyright belongs to the natural 

person who has created the work of authorship by himself/herself and there is no registration proceeding 

related thereto. 

The copyright protection does not extend to ideas, procedures, and methods of operation or mathematical 

concepts as such. Also, copyright cannot be claimed in relation to discovery, official legal and 

similar texts (acts, decrees, decisions, etc.) and other similar official works or the collections thereof, 

which were published for the purpose of providing official information to the public; daily or other news 

that are mere media information. 

Copyright includes moral rights as personal and intellectual ties of the author with his/her work, economic 

rights and other rights of authors. The author’s exclusive rights include the right of reproduction 

(right of multiplication); the right of distribution (right to put the work into circulation); the right of 

communication of the work to the public and the right of alteration. 

Copyright lasts throughout the lifetime of the author and continues for 70 years following his/her death, 

regardless of the time of its publication. Foreign natural or legal entities enjoy the same protection as nationals 

of the Republic of Croatia or legal entities having their principle place of business in the Republic 

of Croatia, assumed by the Republic of Croatia under international agreements or on the basis of actual 

reciprocity. 


Patents 

According to the Croatian Patent Act, a patentable invention is any invention from the technical area 

which is new, contains an inventive step, and which may be industrially applied. A patent will also be 

granted for products consisting of or containing biological material, the procedure used to produce, 

process or use such biological material, and biological material isolated from the natural environment or 

produced by technological procedure. 

Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods, computer programs, aesthetic creations, 

rules, instructions or methods for performing mental activities, playing games or doing business, and 

presentation of information are not patentable. 

Also, inventions which concern animal breeds, plant varieties and essentially biological processes for 

production of plants or animals, the human body and a simple discovery of one of its elements, inventions 

which concern diagnostic or surgical methods or methods of treatment practiced directly on the 

human or animal body, and the inventions which are contrary to public order or morality are excluded 

from the patent protection. 

The procedure for patent granting is handled by the Croatian IP Office and is initiated by filing the patent 

application by the inventor or their his/her successor. 

Patent application should include: 

 

 

 

 

 

request for grant of a patent; 

patent description; 

one or more patent claims; 

drawings that the patent description and patent requests refer to; 

summary of the patent. 

After filing the application, the Croatian IP Office examines whether the application meets the formal 

requirements and whether it is eligible for publication. If the application meets all the requirements in

the process of formal examination, it is published in the Official Gazette upon the expiry of eighteen 

months as of the filing date, i.e. priority date. If the applicant requests so, the application may be published 

before the expiration of eighteen months term, however not earlier than three months as of the 

filing date. 

Within six months following the publication in the Official Gazette, the applicant may submit to the 

Croatian IP Office one of the following: 

 

 

 

request for the patent grant by substantial examination of the patent application; 

request for the patent grant based on the submitted results of substantial examination from other 

countries; 

request for the patent grant without substantial examination of the patent application (consensual 

patent). 

Further proceedings and the scope of examination of the patent application depends on the type of 

examination the applicant chooses, as stated above. 

Patents expire 20 years from the filing date of the patent application whereas consensual patent expires 

after 10 years as of the filing date of the patent application. 

European Patent applications have the same effect if extended to Croatia, and are subject to the same 

conditions as national patent applications and national patents. 

Trademarks 

19 

Croatian legislation does not provide protection for unregistered marks, hence in order to enjoy a full 

scope of protection conferred by the Croatian Trademark Act, a mark has to be registered. 

Signs eligible for protection are those which can be represented graphically and contain at least minimum 

distinctiveness. Protectable signs are in particular words, including personal names, designs, letters, 

numerals, shape of the goods or of their packaging, three dimensional forms, colours, as well as 

the combinations of all the above indicated signs. Graphical expression is a necessary condition, hence 

olfactory or sounds signs could not be protected unless graphically expressed. 

Any natural or legal person may be an applicant for trademark registration or trademark holder. Legal 

representation is obligatory for foreign natural persons and legal entities. 

The filing process is relatively simple and is initiated by submitting a request for trademark registration 

which has to contain: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

information on the applicant; 

data on the type of the mark; 

rendering of the mark in case it is figurative or three-dimensional mark; 

data on priority right if priority is invoked; 

list of goods and services in accordance with the Nice Classification; 

evidence on paid official fees. 

Subsequent to the examination of formal requirements, the Croatian IP Office examines inherent registrability 

of the sign. The application can be refused, partially or in the whole, in case it fails to fall into 

definition of sign as stipulated by the Trademark Act, or is devoid of distinctive character, is descriptive, 

generic, consisting exclusively of shapes resulting from the nature of the goods or the shape necessary 

to obtain a technical result, contrary to public policy or accepted principles of morality, is of such nature 

as to deceive the public as to the nature, quality or geographical origin of goods or services, was not 

authorized by the competent authorities when necessary. 


20 


Also, signs for wines, which contain or consist of geographical indications identifying wines, or signs 

for spirits containing or consisting of geographical indications identifying spirits with respect to such 

wines or spirits not having that geographical origin, or insignia of the Republic of Croatia without the 

approval of the competent authority, will not be registered. Some of the said absolute grounds may be 

circumvented if the sign had acquired the distinctive character before the application was filed. 

In case a mark is inherently registrable and the examination successfully passed, the application will 

be published. In a period of three (3) months as of the publication date, any third party owning earlier 

trademark, company name, copyright or other basis may lodge an objection against the published application 

on the grounds of identity and/or similarity of signs and identity and/ or similarity of goods 

and services or based on a similar reputed trademark when there is no similarity of goods and services. 

If no objection is raised and registration fees for the first ten years are paid, the trademark will be 

registered. In case no objections are raised, the registration procedure lasts for approximately ten (10) 

months. 

The Croatian IP Office issues the trademark certificate solely if specifically requested by the right holder, 

as the protection is conferred by the decision on registration and the certificate is not obligatory. 

Once registered, trademark protection lasts for ten (10) years as of the date of filing the application. 

The registration can be renewed for an unlimited number of times, for a period of ten years, provided 

that the trademark holder files with the Croatian IP Office the renewal request before registration 

expiration date or within the six (6) months grace period. 

The Croatian Trademark Act also provides protection of collective and guarantee marks, and international 

trademarks registered according to the Madrid Agreement or the Protocol to the Agreement. 

A registered trademark confers on its holder the exclusive rights therein based on which the holder 

is authorized to prevent third parties from using in trade any identical and/or similar sign in relation 

to identical and/or similar goods or services which are identical or similar with those for which the 

trademark is registered. In case of trademark infringement, the complaint has to be initiated before the 

commercial courts and prior to the proceeding it is possible to request preliminary injunctions. 

As for the use requirements, any trademark which has not been put to genuine use in the Republic of 

Croatia in respect of the goods or services for which it is registered within a period of five years following 

the date of registration, and there are no proper reasons for non-use, may be revoked on request 

of any third party.

Industrial design 

The industrial design enjoys dual protection; namely it is protected by the Croatian Industrial Design Act 

from the moment of its registration and/or by the applicable copyright provisions since the moment of 

its creation. 

The Industrial Design Act defines industrial design as the appearance of a product or its part resulting 

from its features, in particular the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture, and/or materials of the product 

itself and/or its ornamentation. 

A design is protected if four requirements are fulfilled, namely if it is new and has individual character, if 

it does not subsist in features of appearance of a product that is solely dictated by its technical function, 

and if it is not contrary to public interests or accepted principles of morality. 

A design shall be considered new if no identical design has been made available to the public before the 

date of filing of the application for registration of the industrial design, or, if priority is claimed, before 

the date of priority, with the exception of disclosure made by the designer within 12 months prior to the 

application filing. 

It is considered that a design has an individual character if overall impression it produces on the informed 

user differs from the overall impression of any other design which has been made available to the public 

prior to filing the application for registration of the industrial design, or, if priority is claimed, the date 

of priority. 

A design is registered based on the request of the applicant, which should contain: 

 

 

 

information on the applicant; 

two or three-dimensional representation of the design; 

indication of the product in which a design is intended to be incorporated or to which a design is 

intended to be applied. 

The Croatian IP Office examines solely the formal requirements and the process of registration lasts for 

approximately six (6) months. It is possible to register multiple designs. 

After the registration procedure is completed, the right holder may request the issuance of the design 

certificate as it is not obligatory. The protection conferred by the design registration lasts for twenty five 

(25) years maximum, and it has to be renewed every five (5) years. 

There is no objection proceeding stipulated during the registration process; however once registered the 

respective design can be subject to invalidation action. 

The industrial design holder has the exclusive right to use the registered design and to prevent any 

third party not having his/her authorization from using it. Such rights cannot be exercised in respect of 

the acts done for private and non-commercial purposes, acts done for experimental purposes or acts of 

reproduction for the purpose of making citations or of teaching, provided that such acts are compatible 

with fair trade practice. 

21 


Geographical origin indications and designation 

of origin of products and services 

The Act on Geographical Indications and Designations of Origin of Products and Services regulates protection 

of geographical indications and designations of origin of products and services registered with 

the Croatian IP Office. This Act does not relate to food and wine related geographical indications and 

a designations of origin whose protection is regulated by the Food and Wine Acts and are within the 

authority of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development. 

The process of registration of geographical indications and designations of origin of products and services 

before the Croatian IP Office is initiated by the request accompanied by:

a specification (description); 

evidence on the protection of geographical indication or designation of origin in the official language 

of the country of origin and certified translation into Croatian language, if the applicant is a foreign 

person; 

evidence of payment of the administrative fee and procedural charges. 

Authorized persons, registered as such with the Croatian IP Office are entitled to use a protected name 

for identifying the kind of the product which it relates to . 

The right to use geographical indication lasts for 10 (ten) years as from the date of entry of an authorised 

user in the Register of Authorised Users and this right may be renewed for an unlimited number 

of times. 

A foreign natural or legal entity having their registered seat of business or residence in the country with 

which the Republic of Croatia has concluded or ratified the international treaties on mutual protection 

of geographical indications or designations of origin and authorised users, exercise the right before the 

Office by virtue of evidence that the geographical indication or designation of origin is registered and 

protected in the respective country. 

Topographies of semiconductor products 

22 


Topography is eligible for protection conferred by the Act on the Protection of Topographies of Semiconductor 

Products if it is the result of its creator’s own intellectual effort and is not a commonplace in 

the semiconductor industry. 

The application for registration of topography contains: 

 

 

 

 

request which must clearly and concisely identify the topography by its name or specification of the 

product range; 

indications allowing the identity of the applicant to be established; 

written statement as to the date of the first commercial exploitation if that date occurred before the 

filing date of the application; 

data and supplements identifying the topography (drawings or photographs of layouts for the production 

of a semiconductor product, or drawings or photographs of layouts or the parts thereof for 

the production of semiconductor product, or drawings or photographs of individual layers of the 

semiconductor product). 

Any of the required materials or any of the parts thereof may be marked as a trade secret in which case 

such parts will not be made available to the public. 

An application for registration of a topography cannot be filed after the expiration of a period of two 

years following the date on which the first commercial exploitation of the topography has started. 

Exclusive rights conferred by the protected topography come into existence on the date when the topography 

is first commercially exploited anywhere in the world, or on the date when an application for 

registration has been filed with the Office in due form, depending on which of these dates is earlier. 

The protection lasts for ten (10) years following the end of the calendar year in which the first commercial 

exploitation of topography started anywhere in the world; or the end of the calendar year in 

which the application for the registration of topography was filed in due form, depending on which date 

is earlier. 

In case topography has not been commercially exploited anywhere in the world, any exclusive rights in 

existence shall expire within 15 years from its first fixation or encoding, unless an application for registration 

in due form was filed within that period.

Conclusion 

Croatia at present has a rather efficient system of intellectual property rights protection particularly 

regarding the registration and related proceedings before the Croatian IP Office. 

As for the enforcement issues, the related provisions are contained for each right in its respective act. 

Generally, there are several proceedings related to enforcement of intellectual property rights, namely, 

civil procedures before commercial courts, criminal procedures before municipal criminal courts, misdemeanour 

procedures before misdemeanour courts and administrative procedures dealt with by the 

customs and State Inspectorate. 

Commercial Courts are authorized to establish the infringement and decide on damages request, issue 

a preliminary injunction etc., but they cannot decide on validity of the respective right, except in case of 

industrial design where such decision is valid inter partes solely. 

Criminal cases can be dealt with by the Police, State Attorney’s offices, who would address either the 

Criminal or the Misdemeanour Courts. 

Customs administration is also rather efficient in preventing circulation of the products infringing copyright 

or industrial property. The State Inspectorate is authorized to monitor circulation of industrial 

property rights and copyright according to the State Inspectorate Act. 

Finally, Croatia is a member of a number of international treaties regulating intellectual property issues 

on a wider level. Accordingly, registration of international trademark or design rights through Madrid or 

Hague systems is possible and there is quite a large number of such registered rights. 

23 


State Intellectual Property Office 

of the Republic of Croatia 

Ulica grada Vukovara 78 

10000 Zagreb 

Croatia 

Director General’s office 

Tel: +385 1 61 06 100 

Fax: +385 1 61 12 017 

www.dziv.hr 

Government of 

the Republic of Croatia 

Trg svetog Marka 2 

10 000 Zagreb 

Croatia 

Tel: 01 4569 222 

Fax: 01 6303 023 

www.vlada.hr 

Croatian chamber of economy 

Rooseveltov trg 2 

10000 Zagreb 

Croatia 

Tel: +385(0)1 456-1555 

Telefax: +385(0)1 482-8380 

www.hgk.hr/wps/portal/ 

The Divjak, Topic & Bahtijarevic Law Firm is a full service firm which provides the most reliable advice to its clients by combining the 

best local expertise and the highest international standards in law business. As one of the Croatian leading corporate and commercial 

firms, is particularly skilled in IP matters linked to M&A or other commercial and corporate matters offering commercially-focused 

advice in protecting and managing IP portfolios to its international and domestic clients. Its dedicated IP professionals provide contentious 

and non-contentious advice related to searches, prosecution, litigation, unfair competition, licensing, infringement of industrial 

property rights and copyright issues. The firm developed extensive ties with a range of leading law firms from Europe and USA and is 

dedicated to an excellence in all areas of expertise. 


Vanja Kovacevic is an attorney at law with extensive experience in major aspects of intellectual 

property law. Much of Ms Kovacevic’s intellectual property experience has involved trademark and 

design prosecution, clearance searches, and infringement cases. She has been appointed as a trademark 

and industrial design agent admitted to practice before the Croatian Intellectual Property Office. 

Prior to joining Divjak, Topic & Bahtijarevic as the head of IP Department, Ms Kovacevic worked 

with a Croatian IP law firm where she gained expertise by handling trademarks and design portfolios 

for major national and international clients.

Hungary 

agreb 

Croatia 

KOSOVO 

in BRIEF 

Hungary 

Bosnia and 

Herzegovina 

Sarajevo 

Belgrade 

Serbia 

t i c S e a 


Kosovo 

Podgorica 

Bulgaria 

Skopje 


Albania 

24 



S e a 

Greece 

National name: Kosovo 

President: Fatmir Sejdiu (2006) 

Prime minister: Hashim Thaçi (2007) 

Total area: 4,211 sq mi (10,908 sq km) 

Population (2007 est.): 2,126,708; 

Capital and largest city: Pristina, 400,000 

(2007 est.) 

Other large cities: Prizren, 110,000; Peja, 70,000; 

Mitrovica, 70,000 

Monetary unit: Euro 

Languages: Albanian, Serbian, Bosniak, Turkish 

Ethnicity/race: Albanians 88%, Serbs 7%, other 5% 

Religion: Muslim, Serbian Orthodox, Roman 

Catholic 

Economic summary: GDP/PPP $4 billion (2007 

est.); per capita: $1,900 (2007 est.). 

Real growth rate: 2.6% (2007). 

Inflation: 2% (2007 est.). 

Unemployment: 50% (2007 est.). 

Labor force: 832,000 (June 2007 est.), agriculture 

21.4%. 

Natural resources: nickel, lead, zinc, magnesium, 

lignite, kaolin, chrome, bauxite. 

Exports: $13.08 million (2006): scrap metals, 

mining and processed metal products, plastics, 

wood. 

Imports: $84.99 million (2006): petroleum, foodstuffs, 

machinery and electrical equipment. 

Major trading partners: Central Europe Free 

Trade Area (2006). 

International disputes: Serbia with many other 

states protest the US and other states’ recognition 

of Kosovo’s declaring itself as a sovereign and 

independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian 

municipalities along Kosovo’s northern border 

challenge final status of Kosovo-Serbia boundary; 

several thousand NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers 

under UNMIK authority continue to keep the 

peace within Kosovo between the ethnic Albanian 

majority and the Serb minority in Kosovo; Kosovo 

authorities object to alignment of the Kosovo 

boundary with Macedonia in accordance with the 

2000 Macedonia-Serbia and Montenegro delimitation 

agreement.

KOSOVO 



Kosovo has declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008. Although some countries recognized 

the Republic of Kosovo as independent country, from the point of view of United Nations and 

majority of countries all over the world, Kosovo is still formally part of Serbia. 

Nevertheless, Kosovo has its own legislation related to intellectual property matters which is different 

than in Serbia. Presently, the Republic of Kosovo legal regime relating to IP consists of four relevant 

laws governing registration and protection of trademarks, patents, industrial designs and copyright and 

related rights. 

Regulatory Framework 

The following laws regulate IP rights in Kosovo: 

Patent Law (2004) 

Law on Industrial Design (2005) 

Law on Trademarks (2006) 

Law on Copyright and Related Rights (2006). 

Competent state authority dealing with IP rights is the Intellectual Property Office (IP Office). It was 

officially established and started to operate on 19 November 2007 (the “Initiation Date”). 

As from the Initiation Date, Kosovo IP Office is open for filing new applications for trademarks, patents 

and designs, as well as for filing the applications for revalidation of trademarks, patents and industrial 

designs registered in Serbia prior to the Initiation Date. Applications filed with the Serbian IP Office prior 

to the Initiation Date shall be subject to re-applications, maintaining the original application dates as the 

dates of priority rights. 

In order for the revalidation process of the rights exercised in Serbia to be duly performed at Kosovo, it 

is necessary to submit a proper evidence of the IP right ownership or evidence of valid right related to 

respective IP rights, e.g. trademark certificate or trademark application. Revalidation requests should 

include the list of Serbian applications and registrations that are subject to revalidation. The next stage 

is to obtain certified copies of registration certificates, i.e. of the certificates of validity issued by the 

Serbian IP Office as the confirmation that respective rights have been acquired in Serbia. 

All revalidation requests should be filed until 19 November 2008, i.e. within 12 months as from the 

Initiation Date as identified above. However, the Kosovo IP Office has recently advised that the revalidation 

deadline shall not be 19 November 2008, but rather 1 October 2008. There are indications that the 

revalidation deadline shall be even earlier than 1 October 2008. Nevertheless, no official notice setting 

the final deadline has been issued by the Kosovo IP Office so far. With respect to this matter, we would 

recommend filing the revalidation applications not later than 1 September 2008. 

25 


Patents 

Under Patent Law (2004), an invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially 

applicable. Invention may be or relate to a product and to a process. Nevertheless, certain 

creations (even if they are patentable) are excluded from patent protection, as follows:

26 


 

 

 

 

 

Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods 

Esthetical creations 

Schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business 

Computer programs 

Presentations of information. 

Additionally, inventions the exploitation of which would be contrary to public order or morality cannot 

be protected by patent. The same is with the following inventions: (1) inventions concerning surgical 

or diagnostic methods or methods of treatment practiced directly on the human or animal body (with 

the exception of the products used in such methods); (2) inventions concerning animal breeds or plant 

varieties or mainly biological processes for their production (with the exception of non-biological and 

microbiological processes and products resulting from such processes), and (3) the human body (taking 

into account that an element isolated from the human body may constitute a patentable invention). 

Regarding those inventions which are patentable and are not excluded from patent protection for any 

of the reasons governed by the Law, they can be protected by filing an application for patent registration 

with the IP Office. The person applying for registration of the patent is considered to be entitled to the 

right to the patent. Upon registration of the patent, the applicant is considered to be the holder of the 

patent. 


 

 

 

 

 

Request for patent protection (including particulars on the applicant, the inventor and the agent 

(if any), indication that patent recognition is required, the invention title; if the applicant is not the 

inventor, the request should be accompanied by a statement justifying the applicant’s right to the 

patent); 

Description of the invention; 

One or more patent claims (claims describing the invention and the applicant’s request on what 

he/she wants to protect); 

Drawings referred to in the description or patent claims, when they are necessary for understanding 

of the invention; 

Abstract (summary of the invention’s essential content, with the purpose of providing technical information 

on the invention). 

In addition, the same as with regard to other IP rights registration in the procedure before the IP Office, 

prescribed application fee should be paid. In general, foreign natural persons and legal entities cannot 

register a patent in the proceedings before IP Office unless represented by a patent agent (any natural 

person entered on the Patent Register of the IP Office as a patent agent). 

Once filed, the application will be formally examined. Upon formal examination, the application shall be 

published after the expiration of 18 months from the application filing date (at the applicant’s request, it 

may be published earlier but not before the expiry of three months from the filing date). After publication, 

the applicant may - within six months as of the publication date – file a request for the grant of a 

patent. Furthermore, the applicant, i.e. the patent holder should submit to the IP Office – within 10 years 

from the application filing date – written evidence that patented invention complies with all patentability 

requirements governed by the Law. 

The patent lasts for 20 years from date of filing the application. The dues are payable yearly commencing 

from the third year from the date of filing. 

Although a patent owner is exclusively entitled to exploitation of the patent, the Law governs certain 

exceptions from such exclusivity, i.e. the cases when the patent owner is not exclusively authorized 

to exploit patented invention, as follows: (1) exploitation for private and non-commercial purposes, 

(2) exploitation for the purpose of research and development and experiments the subject of which 

is patented invention, (3) preparation of a medicine in the pharmacy based on an individual medical 

prescription, (4) exploitation by the prior user provided that he/she uses the product which is subject

matter of the invention in good faith and within his/her economic activities or has made real and serious 

preparations for such use in Kosovo, (5) exploitation, under certain conditions, of biotechnological 

patents, (6) exhaustion of the exclusive rights over the patent (it shall be deemed that these rights have 

been exhausted after the product covered by the patent has been placed into domestic market by the 

patent owner or the person authorized by the patent owner (however, the patent owner shall be entitled 

to oppose further commercialization of such product if there are other legitimate reasons for such prohibition), 

and (7) use of the product covered by the patent in the construction of the vehicles belonging 

to any of the member states of the Paris Union or WTO provided that such product serves only for the 

purpose of respective transport means. Additionally, the competent court in Kosovo is entitled, under 

certain conditions, to grant a compulsory license for use of the patent. 

Patent may be declared null and void at any time, on the proposal of any natural person or legal entity 

or a State Attorney, for the reasons explicitly governed by the Law (e.g. if the patent was granted for an 

invention which is not patentable). Patent may – depending on the results of the procedure - be declared 

null and void entirely or partially. Furthermore, a decision on a patent grant may be cancelled in effect 

for the future, at any moment during the patent term. 

Regarding enforcement of rights, the Law governs three types of the law suits for patent protection 

including the action concerning a patent infringement. Persons who infringe a patent can be liable for a 

misdemeanour and fined in the amount of up to EUR 5,000.00. 

Industrial Design 

According to the Law on Industrial Design (2005), design is the external shape of a product, deriving 

from the product characteristics, particularly its shape, colour, text and material. 

In order to register an industrial design, it is necessary to file an application with the IP Office. 

Application should include: 

 

 

 

 

Application form for industrial design registration; 

Information on the applicant and on the representative, if the application was filed by the 

authorized representative (foreign persons may register an industrial design at Kosovo 

only through the representatives entered in the representatives’ register kept by the IP Office); 

Design presentation (suitable for reproduction); 

Product mark where the design is applied. 

Requirements for protection are novelty and individual character of a design applied for registration. 

The IP Office issues the decision on industrial design registration provided that all legal requirements for 

such registration have been fulfilled. Once registered, the design registration is valid for 25 years from 

the filing date. 

Law explicitly governs that an industrial design can be subject to pawn case and an execution. 

The IP Office shall pass a decision on annulation of industrial design if it is verified that legal requirements 

for registering industrial design have not been met. Request for null announcement can be filed 

by the authorized person, public prosecutor or by the IP Office itself by virtue of its official duty. Annulment 

is possible both during the industrial design term and after its validity termination. 

Regarding industrial design protection, the Law governs two kinds of the law suits as the instruments of 

civil protection including the lawsuit against abuse of the right. Persons infringing the industrial designs 

or acting in contrary to the Law shall be punished for offences and fined in the amount of up to EUR 

5,000.00. 

27 


Trademarks 

28 


Under the Law on Trademarks (2006), any signs capable 

of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking 

from those of other undertakings may be protected as the 

trademarks. The Law governs three types of trademarks, i.e. 

individual, collective and certification marks. 

Additionally, the Law governs protection of the commercial 

designations defining them as company symbols (symbols 

used in the course of trade as a name, firm name or special 

designation of an undertaking) and titles of work (names 

or special designations of printed publications, cinematographic 

works, musical works, dramatic works or comparable 

works). 

To enjoy the protection a trademark needs to be registered. Trademark registration procedure is to be 

initiated by filing an application with the IP Office. 

Trademark application should include: 

 

 

 

 

Information identifying the applicant 

Representation of the trademark 

List of goods or services for which the registration is requested 

Statement that the trademark is being used in relation to the goods or services specified in the application 

or that the applicant has a bona fide intention to use the trademark in such manner. 

Fee prescribed by the IP Office must be paid when the trademark application is filed. 

In the case of collective or certification trademark, the terms governing use of the mark should be filed 

as well. 

Under condition that the trademark applied for registration fulfills all requirements for registration, i.e. 

provided that there are no grounds, absolute or relative, for refusal of registration, the IP Office shall 

publish it in the Official Bulletin. Any person or undertaking may file an opposition against such application 

within three months as of the publication date (the written notice of opposition must include a 

statement of the opposition grounds). 

If a mark covered by the trademark application has not been opposed or has not been opposed successfully, 

the IP office shall register the trademark and issue a certificate of registration. Once registered the 

trademark protection is granted for the period of 10 years, but this period may be extended, upon the 

trademark owner request and payment of the prescribed fee, for an unlimited number of times. 

The trademark holder has the exclusive right to use the trademark, within the scope of the activities 

for which it is registered for, and prevent others to do the same without his authorization. However, 

the trademark is considered exhausted if it has been used in relation to the goods placed into market in 

Kosovo or the European Union, by or with the consent of the trademark owner taking into account that 

the trademark owner is entitled to oppose further use of the trademark if he/she has legitimate reason 

to believe that the condition of the marked goods has changed or been impaired after being placed at 

the market. 

Trademark owner is entitled to cancel the trademark registration voluntarily, partly or totally. Furthermore, 

the trademark may be revoked on the grounds governed by the Law, i.e. if it has not been used 

genuinely within five years from the date when the registration was published in the Official Bulletin 

or if the trademark has not been used for any uninterrupted five year period or if the trademark has 

become a common name or if it is liable to mislead consumers. Application for trademark revocation (in 

whole or in part) may be filed by any natural person or undertaking and in general it can be filed either 

with the IP Office or with the competent court. Additionally, registered trademark shall be declared 

invalid if it was registered although a legal ground for refusal of registration existed at the moment of

filing the application. Application for trademark invalidity declaration (in whole or in part) may be filed 

by any natural person or undertaking and in general it can be filed either with the IP Office or with the 

competent court. 

Regarding legal protection of the trademarks, the Law explicitly governs that the owner of the registered 

trademark is entitled to take any legal action if the trademark is infringed including court order 

for erasure (or removal in other way) the offending sign from the concerned goods, materials or articles, 

as well as destruction of concerned goods, materials or articles (if it not reasonably feasible to remove 

the offending sign) and surrender of the same. Unauthorized use of the trademark leads to liability for 

offence and a fine in the amount of up to EUR 5,000.00 for legal entities, i.e. up to EUR 1,000.00 for 

natural persons. 

Taking into account that Kosovo is not a member of either the Madrid Agreement or Protocol, registration 

of international trademarks for the territory of Kosovo is not possible. Therefore, applying for 

national trademarks’ registration is the only existing option for trademark protection in Kosovo. 


Copyright 

Unlike the industrial property rights (trademarks, patents, industrial designs), registration of copyright 

is not required for establishment of that right taking into account that, as explicitly governed by the Law 

on Copyright and Related Rights (2006), copyright belongs to the author by the mere fact of the work 

of authorship creation. 

Under the Law, works of authorship are original intellectual creations in the area of literature, science 

and art, expressed in any mode. Component parts of the work of authorship, its title and an unfinished 

work of authorship, enjoy copyright protection as well. However, certain creations explicitly governed 

by the Law cannot be protected by copyright (e.g. ideas, principles, instructions, discoveries and mathematical 

concepts or official laws and other regulations). 

Under the Law, copyright consists of following exclusive rights: (1) moral rights (right to the first disclosure, 

right to authorship recognition, right to integrity of the work, right to revoke assigned economic 

right from its holder), (2) economic rights (rights to economic exploitation of the work and a remuneration 

for such exploitation), and (3) other rights (such as public lending right, i.e. the right of the author to 

equitable remuneration when the original or a copy of the work is made available for use during certain, 

limited period of time and not for economic advantage provided that it has been done through public 

establishments). Unlike moral rights which are not assignable, economic and other rights of the author 

can be assigned. 

Copyright lasts throughout the lifetime of the author and continues for 70 more years from authors’ 

death. In the case of joint authorship this period begins from the death of the last author. In the case 

of anonymous authors or works under pseudonym this period begins from the date of the work lawful 

disclosure. If the work has not been lawfully disclosed, the term begins from the date of the work 

creation. However, although the economic rights over the work of authorship have expiry term, certain 

moral rights of the author, i.e. right to recognition of authorship and right to integrity of the work, last 

eternally. 

29 


Related Rights 

Under the Law, following rights are governed as related rights: 

 

Rights of Performers (economic rights of the performers last 50 years after the date of the performance 

and moral rights of the performers last without limitations)

Rights of Phonograms Producers (term of these rights is 50 years after the fixation is made, i.e. if 

the phonogram was lawfully published or lawfully communicated to the public within stated period, 

stated period shall commence after the date of the work first publication, i.e. first lawful communication 

to the public) 

Rights of Film Producers (term of these rights is the same as the term of the phonogram producers’ 

rights) 

Rights of Broadcasters (they last for 50 years from the date of the first broadcasting of their broadcast) 

Rights of Databases’ Makers (they last for 15 years after the database completion and if the database 

is lawfully disclosed within stated period, the term commences from such first disclosure) 

Rights of Publishers (publishers are entitled to special remuneration during the period of 50 years 

from the date of the work lawful publication; additionally, a person who for the first time publishes 

or communicates to the public a previously unpublished work which falls under public domain, enjoys 

legal protection equal to protection covered by economic and other rights of the author, during 

25 years from the date of stated work first lawful publication or communication to the public; the 

same rights, but during the period of 30 years from the date of the work first lawful publication, shall 

belong to the publisher of scientific edition of a work in which the copyright expired). 

Protection of Copyright and Related Rights 

30 


Under the Law, the right holder is entitled to judicial protection when his/her exclusive rights granted 

by the Law were infringed. Claims of the right holder may, among other claims prescribed by the Law, 

include recovery of material damages (actual damages and lost profits, taking into account that the Law 

also governs the possibilities for special recovery of damages, such as passing to the right holder overall 

profits which the infringer gained through the infringement) and recovery of non-material damages (due 

to infringement of moral rights of the author or the performer). Competent court is the District Court 

in Prishtina. 

Furthermore, the Law governs certain measures for enforcement of protection, namely: (1) the court 

may order a person who is in any way connected with the infringement, to immediately provide information 

and produce documents in relation to the infringement, (2) protection at the border by the 

customs authorities (including the possibility that if the right holder proves existence of the ground for 

suspecting that his/her right is likely to be infringed by importation of particular products at Kosovo, the 

customs authorities may stop the import procedure and detain the goods subject to such procedure), 

(3) deposition of the works of authorship and works subject to related rights in the procedure before 

the IP Office. 

In addition, the Law governs liability for criminal offences and misdemeanors for the persons who infringe 

copyright or related rights or act in any other way contrary to the Law. Sanctions for criminal 

offences are fines or imprisonment (up to eight years) and sanctions for misdemeanors are fines (in the 

amount of up to EUR 50,000.00 for legal entities, i.e. up to EUR 10,000.00 for natural persons). 

Foreign natural persons and legal entities enjoy the same rights as domestic persons under condition 

that such protection is provided by the international treaties or the Law or in the case of factual reciprocity. 

Nevertheless, foreign authors and performers enjoy the protection of their moral right, in accordance 

with the Law, in any case. 

*With kind thanks to Bejtush Isufi for his contribute to this article. 


Statistical office of kosovo 

Str.Zenel Salihu 4 

Pristina, Kosovo 

Tel: 038 235-111; 038 235-474 

Fax: 038 235-033 

e-mail: esk@ks-gov.net 

www.ks-gov.net/ESK/esk/english/english.htm

Hungary 

Croatia 

Bosnia and 

Herzegovina 

Sarajevo 

MACEDONIA 

Hungary 

in BRIEF 

Belgrade 

Serbia 


Kosovo 

Podgorica 

Bulgaria 

S e a 

Skopje 


Albania 

Greece 


S e a 

31 

Country name: Republic of Macedonia 

Area: 

total: 25,333 sq km 

land: 24,856 sq km 

water: 477 sq km 

Population: 2,055,915 (July 2007 est.) 

Ethnic groups: Macedonian 64.2%, Albanian 

25.2%, Turkish 3.9%, Roma (Gypsy) 2.7%, Serb 

1.8%, other 2.2% (2002 census) 

Religions: Macedonian Orthodox 64.7%, Muslim 

33.3%, other Christian 0.37%, other and unspecified 

1.63% (2002 census) 

Languages: Macedonian 66.5%, Albanian 25.1%, 

Turkish 3.5%, Roma 1.9%, Serbian 1.2%, other 

1.8% (2002 census) 

The Republic of Macedonia often referred to as 

Macedonia, is a landlocked country on the Balkan 

peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by 

Serbia and its partially recognized breakaway province 

of Kosovo to the north, Albania to the west, 

Greece to the south, and Bulgaria to the east. It 

was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 under 

the provisional reference former Yugoslav 

Republic of Macedonia, pending resolution of a 

naming dispute with Greece. Many other international 

institutions and countries have recognised 

the country under the same reference, although 

a large number of countries recognise it under its 

preferred name as the Republic of Macedonia. 

The Republic of Macedonia forms approximately 

35.8% of the land and 40.9% of the population of 

the wider geographical region of Macedonia. 

The capital is Skopje, with 500,000 inhabitants, 

and there are a number of smaller cities, notably 

Bitola, Kumanovo, Prilep, Tetovo, Ohrid, Veles, 

Štip, Kočani, Gostivar and Strumica. It has more 

than 50 natural and artificial lakes and sixteen 

mountains higher than 2,000 meters (6,550 ft) 

above sea level. 

The country is a member of the UN and the Council 

of Europe and a member of La Francophonie, 

the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the 

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. 

Since December 2005 it is also a candidate 

for joining the European Union and has applied for 

NATO membership. 


32 



Recently ranked as the fourth ‘best reformatory 

state’ out of 178 countries ranked by the World 

Bank, the Republic of Macedonia has undergone 

considerable economic reform since independence. 

The country has developed an open economy 

with trade accounting for more than 90% 

of GDP in recent years. Since 1996, the country 

has witnessed steady, though slow, economic 

growth with GDP growing by 3.1% in 2005. This 

figure is projected to rise to an average of 5.2% 

in the 2006-2010 period. The government has 

proven successful in its efforts to combat inflation, 

with an inflation rate of only 3% in 2006 

and 2% in 2007 and has implemented policies focused 

on attracting foreign investment and promoting 

the development of Small and Mediumsized 

Enterprises (SMEs). The current government 

introduced a flat tax system with the intention of 

making the country more attractive to foreign investment. 

The flat tax rate was 12% in 2007 and 

will be further lowered to 10% in 2008. 

Despite these successes, as of 2005 Macedonia’s 

unemployment rate was 37.2%and as of 2006 its 

poverty rate was 22%. Corruption and a relatively 

ineffective legal system also act as significant restraints 

on successful economic development. 

The Republic still has one of the lowest per capita 

GDPs in Europe. Furthermore, the country’s grey 

market is estimated at close to 20% of GDP. 

In terms of structure, as of 2005 the service sector 

constituted by far the largest part of GDP at 

57.1%, up from 54.2% in 2000. The industrial sector 

represents 29.3% of GDP, down from 33.7% in 

2000 while agriculture represents only 12.9%, up 

from 12%.Textiles represent the most significant 

sector for trade, accounting for more than half of 

total exports. Other important exports include 

iron, steel, wine and vegetables. 

Economy overview 

At independence in September 1991, Macedonia 

was the least developed of the Yugoslav republics, 

producing a mere 5% of the total federal output 

of goods and services. The collapse of Yugoslavia 

ended transfer payments from the central government 

and eliminated advantages from inclusion 

in a de facto free trade area. An absence of 

infrastructure, UN sanctions on the downsized 

Yugoslavia, and a Greek economic embargo over 

a dispute about the country’s constitutional name 

and flag hindered economic growth until 1996. 

GDP subsequently rose each year through 2000. 

However, the leadership’s commitment to economic 

reform, free trade, and regional integration 

was undermined by the ethnic Albanian insurgency 

of 2001. The economy shrank 4.5% because 

of decreased trade, intermittent border closures, 

increased deficit spending on security needs, and 

investor uncertainty. Growth barely recovered in 

2002 to 0.9%, then averaged 4% per year during 

2003-07. Macedonia has maintained macroeconomic 

stability with low inflation, but it has so far 

lagged the region in attracting foreign investment 

and job creation despite making extensive fiscal 

and business sector reforms. Official unemployment 

remains the highest in Europe at 35%, but 

may be somewhat overstated based on the existence 

of an extensive gray market, estimated to 

be more than 20 percent of GDP, that falls outside 

official statistics. 

GDP (purchasing power parity): $17.26 billion 

note: Macedonia has a large informal sector (2007 

est.) 

GDP (official exchange rate): $6.85 billion (2007 

est.) 

GDP - real growth rate: 4.6% (2007 est.) 

GDP - per capita (PPP): $8,400 (2007 est.) 

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 12.1%; 

industry: 28.6%; services: 59.3% (2007 est.) 

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2% (2007 est.) 

Investment (gross fixed): 18% of GDP (2007 est.) 

Budget: revenues: $2.381 billion 

Expenditures: $2.456 billion (2007 est.) 

Public debt: 26.1% of GDP (2007 est.) 

Agriculture - products: grapes, wine, tobacco, 

vegetables; milk, eggs 

Industries: food processing, beverages, textiles, 

chemicals, iron, steel, cement, energy, pharmaceuticals 

Industrial production growth rate: 1.6% (2007 

est.) 

Exports: $2.844 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) 

Exports-commodities: food, beverages, tobacco; 

textiles, miscellaneous manufactures, iron and 

steel 

Exports-partners: Serbia and Montenegro 23.2%, 

Germany 15.6%, Greece 15.1%, Italy 9.9%, Bulgaria 

5.4%, Croatia 5.2% (2006) 

Imports: $4.079 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) 

Imports-commodities: machinery and equipment, 

automobiles, chemicals, fuels, food products 

Imports - partners: Russia 15.1%, Germany 9.8%, 

Greece 8.5%, Serbia and Montenegro 7.5%, Bulgaria 

6.7%, Italy 6% (2006)

MACEDONIA 


Law Office Pepeljugoski 


In this chapter the current situation regarding Intellectual Property (IP) protection in the Republic of 

Macedonia will be presented. 

Currently there are three main laws covering IP protection in Macedonia and certain articles in other laws 

as well as the international conventions and agreements are also applied. 

It is valuable to mention that in 2005 the Law on Customs measures for protection of intellectual property 

rights was enacted. This law provides solid protection from infringement of IP rights on the borders. 

It prescribes a simplified procedure before the Customs authorities, and the practice has shown it is very 

efficient. 

Regulatory framework 

33 

The following laws regulate IP rights in Macedonia: 

 

 

 

Law on Copyright and Related Rights (adopted in 1996, amendment in 1998, 2002, 2005 and in 

2007) regulates both copyright (relating to various kinds of works of authorship, such as literary, scientific 

and artistic works) and related rights (phonogram producer rights, videogram producer rights, 

performer’s rights, broadcast producer rights, database producer rights); 

Industrial Property Law (adopted in 2002, amendment in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007) which regulates 

patents, industrial design, trademark registration and protection, as well as the geographical 

origin indications; 

Law on Protection of Topographies of Integrated Circuits (adopted in 1998, amended in 2006) regulates 

protection of topographies of integrated circuits, inventor’s rights and those of legal entities 

within which the topographies have been invented. 

Additionally Macedonia has adopted the main international treaties covering IP rights protection, including: 

Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property; Madrid Agreement Concerning the 

International Registration of Marks; Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of 

Goods and Services for the Purpose of Registration of Marks; Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement 

Concerning the International Registration of Marks; WTO/TRIPS; Convention for Establishing the World 

Intellectual Property Organization; The Universal Copyright Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, 

the European Patent Convention, the Bern Copyright Convention, and the Strasbourg Agreement Concerning 

International Patent Classification. 

The State Office of Industrial Property (SOIP) is the competent state authority dealing with Industrial 

property rights. SOIP covers the procedure for recognition, maintenance and protection of Industrial 

property rights. Its decisions are subject to an appeal before the Government Commission for industrial 

property. The unsatisfied party can file a lawsuit against the final decisions of the said Commission before 

the Administrative court, which was established by the latest Law on courts, but it started working in 

2007. 

Regarding the protection of copyright and the related rights there is no state organ that covers this 

part of the intellectual property. There are a few non-state organizations that deal with collective 


protection of the Copyright. One of them is the Macedonian Copyright Agency to which the authors 

submit their works. 

Copyright 

34 


In respect of protection of copyright, Macedonian Law on Copyright and related rights does not require 

registration of copyright for establishment of that right. The author decides whether he/she is going to 

file a request to register his/her work or not. But the practise has shown that it is preferable to register 

the copyright in order to secure the protection of the same before the Courts. 

To register the copyright, the author himself/herself or through a representative should file a request to 

the Macedonian Copyright Agency and if the request contains all the required information and all the 

required documents have been filed together with the request, the Agency will issue the Certificate of 

Registration of the Copyright Work. 

The Agency does not review the content of the submitted copyright work, but just registers the work 

in files of deposited copyright and related rights works. In case that the original work is in a foreign language 

the deposited copy should be in the language of the original work. 

The application should include specific data on the applicant, the author and the work of authorship 

itself, including: (a) particulars on the applicant, (b) particulars on the author (if the applicant is not the 

author), (c) title of the work, (d) information on the type of work, (e) indication whether the work has 

been created during employment, (f) information on manner or intended manner of the work use. 

In addition, the following documents should be filed with the application: (a) signed copy of the work, (b) 

description of the work (if applicable), (d) statement on the representative of the copyright holders, if 

there are more holders of the copyright, (e) power of attorney (if the application is filed by an authorized 

representative), (f) payment of the prescribed fee. 

The author has exclusive rights regarding his/her work, i.e. he/she is exclusively entitled to exploitation 

of his/her work. In addition, the author has exclusive moral rights over his/her work (right to be 

recognised and named as the author, right to disclose his/her work, as well as right to protect the work’s 

integrity and oppose unauthorized exploitation of the work). 

Whether registered or not copyright lasts throughout the lifetime of the author and continues for 70 

more years following the author’s death. In the case of joint authorship this period begins from the 

death of the last author. In the case of anonymous authors or works under pseudonym this period begins 

from the date of the publication of the work. If the work has been published in sequences this period 

begins from the date when the last sequence was published. 

Works of authorship created by foreign authors will be protected under the condition that the author is 

the copyright holder on the basis of an international treaty ratified by MK or if there is a reciprocity between 

MK and the author’s country. However, the foreign author’s moral rights will be recognised even 

if the mentioned requirements for copyright protection are not fulfilled. 

Trademarks 

Trademark means any distinguishable sign, in particular: words, letters, numerals, pictures, drawings, 

combinations of colours, three-dimensional forms, including shapes of goods or their packaging, as well 

as combinations of all of the above-mentioned signs. 

The words and letters referred to in the previous paragraph may be written in any language and alphabet. 

This is the definition of trademark given in the Industrial property law. Unlike copyright, trademark 

must be registered in order to enjoy all the attached rights. In order to register a trademark the applicant 

must file the trademark application with the SOIP. 

The date of filing the trademark application is the date from which the owner of the mark has the prior-

ity right. The applicant who duly filed the application in any of the state member of the Paris Union or 

WTO shall be granted priority right in the Republic of Macedonia from the date of filing the first application 

if that is claimed within six months following the filing date of the first application, if no priority 

right is asked from the previous application which is filed. 

In order to be valid (formally) the trademark application should contain the following: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name, address, citizenship of the applicant. 

Name and contact address of the representative (if the application is filed by the representative) 

The mark that should be protected - in case of a word mark the mark shall be written in the application; 

in case of a device mark, three dimensional mark, colour mark or packaging, 6 copies of the mark 

not bigger than 8x8sm shall be enclosed with the application. 

Classes for which the protection is requested 

List of goods and services, according to the Nice agreement Concerning the International Classification 

of Goods and Services for the purposes of the registration of marks. 

Power of attorney - if the application is filed through a representative 

Proof for payment of the administrative tax. 

In the case of collective or warranty trademark, the general act on the collective, i.e. warranty trademark 

should be filed as well. 

The SOIP does not perform similarity search to determine whether the trademark is similar to, or same 

as any other trademark. The SOIP only examines the trademark application as to its formal side and for 

absolute ground. 

If anything is missing then the SOIP will give 30 days deadline for the applicant to remedy the irregularities. 

If everything is in order, then the SOIP will issue the conclusion for payment of the publication fee, 

for publishing the trademark application in the Official Gazette. When the prescribed fees are paid the 

application is going to be published in no later than 90 days. 

Publication of the trademark application gives the opportunity to anyone who has a legal interest to file 

an objection against the application. The deadline for filing the objection is 90 days from the publication 

date. If no one files an objection then the SOIP will issue the conclusion for payment of the recognition 

and maintenance fees for the first 10 years, fee for publication of the recognized trademark in the Official 

Gazette, and the fee for issuing a Certificate. After the fees are paid the SOIP will issue the Decision for 

recognition of the trademark. The deadline for issuing the Certificate of registration is no longer than 6 

months after issuance of the Decision for recognition. Searches for identical or similar previously filed 

trademarks are performed by the SOIP. The searches can be made by the sign or by the holder. The time 

limit for getting the search report is approximately 3 days. 

35 


The trademark holder has the exclusive right to use the trademark, within the scope of activities for 

which it is registered, and prevent others to do the same without his/her authorization. However, the 

trademark can also be cancelled if not used for more than five years. 

As a member of the Madrid union, the Republic of Macedonia provides the right of the holder of the registered 

trademark and of the trademark applicant to file an international trademark application through 

the SOIP. The international application is sent by the SOIP, after the application has been examined as 

to its formal side, and the fees for filing have been paid. 

The international application can be filed only by a natural or legal person with entity of the Republic of 

Macedonia. 

The deadline for filing an objection against the international trademark registration is 90 days following 

the first day of the month that comes after the month in which the international application was 

published. 

The time frame for obtaining the registration is approximately a year and a half. 

Patents 

36 


Patent is an industrial property right which is used for protection of the invention in all areas of techniques 

and technology, which is new, contains inventive step and is industrially applicable. 

Patent protection may not be granted for new types of animal species and plants, or biological procedures 

to create them. The procedure for recognition of a patent right may be initiated by the inventor or 

his/her legal successor. 

The procedure for patent registration starts with filing the application to the SOIP. For each invention a 

separate application must be filed. Patent applications shall be filed with the SOIP. 

In order to be valid, the patent application must contain: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Request for patent protection 

Power of Attorney 

Patent claims 

Patent description 

Abstract 

Drawings, if any 

Proof for payment of the administrative fee. 

Designation of the inventor is optional. If the inventor does not wish to be designated in the application 

he/she must present the statement before the SOIP. 

A single patent application may contain more that one invention only if they are connected in the way 

that represents one inventor’s concept. 

Patent applications are examined for compliance with the formal requirements only. If the application is 

found formally in order, the SOIP will render the conclusion that the conditions for the patent protection 

are fulfilled and ask the applicant to pay, within 30 days, the costs for publishing in the Bulletin of the 

Office, and the costs for the Certificate and the annuity tax. If all of these conditions are fulfilled, the 

patent protection will be published within 90 days, and the patent will be granted. This patent could be 

regarded as registration patent, as no examination as to novelty or substance is carried out. 

A patent is valid for a maximum of 20 years following the filing date (subject to payment of the annual 

fees), comprising an initial period of ten years and an additional ten-year period. Patent duration is 20 

years, but it can be extended for additional five years (patent supplementary certificate), if the patent is 

granted for a medical product, a product for plant protection or a procedure for plant creation. If a patent 

is to remain in force for the full 20-year period, at any rate before the expiration of nine years following filing 

of the application, the proof of novelty and patentability of the invention must be filed with the SOIP 

(failing to do this will cause the patent to lapse at the latest at the end of the tenth year form filing).

European patent application granted by the European patent organization can be validated in Macedonia, 

according to the Agreement signed by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and the 

European patent organization. 

Conditions for filing the European patent are: Translation of the patent claims; Formal request for validation; 

presentation of the European application as well as the patent grant by the EPO, and a Power of 

Attorney. 

Macedonia has been a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) since 1995. According to that 

and the Law of Industrial Property, international patents according to PCT can be filed with the SOIP. 

Designs 

Industrial design right shall protect new appearance of body, picture, drawing, contours, composition of 

colors, texture, or combination of these features applicable on certain industrial or handcraft products or 

part thereof to the extent that it fulfils the requirements as to novelty and individual character. 

The features applied to a useful article dictated solely by a utilitarian function thereof, and ideas, principles 

of manufacture or construction or materials used in the construction of an article cannot be 

protected as a design. 

Duration of the industrial design is 5 years following the day of filing the industrial design application. 

This period can be extended for another 5 years, but no longer than 25 years in total, if the holder of the 

industrial design within the last year of the protection but no longer than 6 months after the its expiration, 

files the request for renewal and pays the prescribed fees. 

The new period of protection shall begin on the day of expiration of the previous five-year period of 

protection. 

The industrial design application shall be filed with the SOIP. The date of filing the industrial design application 

is the date from which the owner of the design has the priority right. 

In order to be valid (formally) the industrial design application should contain the following: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full Name, address, citizenship of the applicant. 

Name and a contact address of the representative (if the application is filed by the representative) 

Reproduction of the design - 3 copies. 

Description-only if it is necessary to prove the novelty. 

Power of attorney - if the application is filed through a representative 

Proof of payment of the administrative tax. 

The SOIP does not perform similarity search to determine whether the industrial design is similar to, or 

same as any other industrial design. The SOIP only examines the application as to its formal side. If anything 

is missing then the SOIP will give 30 days deadline for the applicant to remedy the irregularities. 

If everything is in order, then the SOIP will issue the conclusion for payment of the publication fee, for 

publishing the industrial design application in the Official Gazette. When the prescribed fees are paid, 

the application is going to be published in no later than 90 days. 

Publication of the industrial design application gives the opportunity to anyone who has a legal interest 

to file an objection against the application. The deadline for filing the objection is 90 days from the 

publication date. If no one files an objection then the SOIP will issue the conclusion for payment of the 

recognition and maintenance fees for the first 5 years, fee for publication of the recognized industrial 

design in the Official Gazette, and the fee for issuing a Certificate. 

After the fees are paid the SOIP will issue the Decision for recognition of the industrial design. 

The deadline for issuing the Certificate of registration is no longer than 6 months after the Decision for 

recognition was issued. 

37 


Geographical origin indications 

38 


Geographical name shall be protected with the name of origin and geographical indication. Geographical 

name shall mark the products produced by natural or legal right-owners on a given geographical 

area. 

The name of origin and its lower category of protection - “geographical indication” are industrial property 

rights stipulated in the Industrial Property Law. 

It is a specific right different from the other industrial property rights. The main purpose of this right is 

to appoint to the certain geographical region and the conditions of making the products. 

The use of the name of origin is a powerful propaganda, to indicate the quality and specific characteristic 

of the products that come from one region. 

Name of origin shall be the geographical name of the country, region or place marking the product 

which originates from that region, the quality and particular characteristics of which are exclusively or 

mainly conditioned by the geographical environment, including the natural and human factor, and the 

production, processing and preparation of which are entirely carried out in the limited region of origin. 

Geographical indication shall be the geographical name of the country, region or place marking the 

product, the quality, reputation or other characteristic of which may be essentially attributed to the 

geographical origin. 

Geographical indication of a product may be protected only if the production and/or processing and/or 

preparation for production are carried out in the place of origin. 

The geographical name which does not comply with the requirements for protection with the name of 

origin may be protected as geographical indication. 

With the exception of wines and spirits, a product may be marked with the name of origin even if the 

raw materials used in its production originate from a broader region or outside the processing area, 

provided that:

the production area of the raw materials is limited or that production of such raw materials needs 

special conditions; 

 

the traditional way of production, i.e. the human factor, is crucial for the quality and particular characteristics 

of the product. 

Geographical name may be used for marking natural, agricultural, industrial, handcraft and home-made 

products. 

The application for protection of a geographical name may be filed by: 

 

natural or legal right-owners which produce the given product and associations having capacity to 

acquire rights and incur liabilities relating to protection and right of use; 

 

state administrative body, local administrative body and chambers interested in protection of geographical 

names in the region of their activity. 

The application for protection of geographical name must contain the request for protection of the 

geographical name with indication that the requested protection is by geographical indication or name 

of origin. 

The application for protection of geographical name by name of origin, apart from the request for protection 

of geographical name, shall also contain elaboration for the product which shall be marked with 

the geographical name. 

The application for protection of geographical name by geographical indication, apart from the request 

for protection of geographical name, shall also contain specification for the product which shall be 

marked with the geographical name. 

If the Application for protection of a geographical name by geographical indication is applied for wines 

and spirits, it shall contain an elaborate for the product instead of the specification . 

The term of protection of the geographical name is unlimited. 

The right to use of the protected geographical name lasts for five years following the day of adoption 

of the decision. 

The validity of the right to use may be renewed for an unlimited number of times, by extensions of five 

years each time, under the condition that the holder of the right during the fifth year of the validity period, 

submits a request for renewal to the SOIP for the protected geographical name. 

Topographies of integrated circuits 

Application for topography protection can be filed with the SOIP within two years from the first use of 

the topography for commercial purposes. The application can be filed within 15 years from the creation 

date where the topography has not been used for commercial purposes. 

The application should be filed with the SOIP along with the re¬quired enclosures. After examination of 

formal compliance of the application and the examination of the conditions for granting the protection 

(protection can be granted only if the topography is a result of the inventor’s intellectual creation and 

if at the time of its creation it was not generally known among topographies creators and integrated 

circuits producers), the decision will be issued. The acknowledged right will be entered in the registry 

kept with the SOIP and the Certificate on Topography will be issued to the right holder. Furthermore, 

information on the recognized right will be published in the Official Gazette of the SOIP. 

Foreign persons can obtain protection for their topographies in Macedonia only on the basis of reciprocity 

and must be represented by a representative authorized by the SOIP. 

Once registered, topography registration is valid for 10 years from the filing date or the date of the first 

commercial use of such topography (whichever of these dates comes earlier). 

39 


Concluding thoughts 

The Republic of Macedonia as a member of the main convention related to IP maters is strongly moving 

towards harmonization of its legislation with the international law. The current laws are new and were 

adopted in order to coordinate the IP legislation with the relevant EU legislation and TRIPS Agreement. 

Besides, SOIP managed to overcome the situation regarding the burden it had with the applications that 

were transferred from former Yugoslavia and now is processing the applications filed in 2007. 

The current IP legislation provides solid ground for protection of IP rights infringement. The owner of the 

IP right has the right to file a lawsuit with the court, to file a request with the State Market inspectorate 

and to file a request with the Customs administration. Furthermore, violation of IP rights may constitute 

a criminal act, which is regulated in the Macedonian Criminal Code which prescribes monetary fines 

or imprisonment for such criminal offences. 

Nevertheless, the law will be useless if not enforced. That seems to be the main problem with IP rights 

protection in Macedonia. As previously mentioned all the laws provide solid ground for protection but 

this fact seems to be irrelevant when the cases are stuck in court procedures for an indefinite period of 

time. 

As all the things are moving forward and considering the current reforms in the judicial system, it is 

believed that this practice will be overcome. 

40 



State Office for 

Industrial Property 

Veljko Vlahovic 11 

1000 Skopje, Macedonia 

Tel. 389 2 3116 379 

fax: 389 2 3137 149 

www.ippo.gov.mk 

Government of the 

Republic of Macedonia 

www.vlada.mk 

Ministry of Economy of the 


JurIj Gagarin no. 15 


Tel: 3084-470, 3084-471, 

fax: 3084-472 

www.economy.gov.mk 

Ministry of Finance of the 


Dame Gruev no. 14 


Tel: 3117-288, fax: 3117-280 

www.finance.gov.mk 

The Law office Pepeljugoski, was founded in year 1999, by Dr. Valentin Pepeljugoski. Since then it has grown up to one of the biggest 

and most famous law offices in Macedonia. Nowadays, the Office counts eight employees, from which there are four attorney at law, 

two legal advisors with passed judicial exam and two junior advisors. 

Law Office is member of Macedonian Business Lawyers Association, Macedonian Intellectual Property Protection Association, registered 

representative in IPP Office, (No. 77), Associate Member of American Bar Association (ABA), and Associate Member of International 

Trademark Association (INTA). 

The Law Office works with all area of Commercial Law, such as: company law, law of contracts and torts, financial law, customs and 

taxation law, consumer protection law investments, banking law. The office is specialized in intellectual property law (copyright and 

industrial property). The office also works with civil law (family law, heritage law, property law, owner’s relationship etc.). 

The Office gives judicial, administrative, penal and civil protection before the courts and administrative authorities in Macedonia, and 

cooperates with famous law offices in Europe and the world. 

Sonja Peshevska, legal advisor 

Born in Skopje on 15.07.1980. Graduated on the Law Faculty at the University of St. Kiril and Metodij 

– Skopje in 2004. Passed the judicial exam in 2007 and the professional exam for industrial property representatives 

passed in 2007. Is a part of the great team of the Law Office PEPELJUGOSKI, since September 

2004, working mainly on intellectual property protection, before the State Office of industrial property 

and the Custom administration of Republic of Macedonia. 

Areas of work: Intellectual property law (copyright and industrial property right), trade law, obligation law, 

family law, labor law, custom law and representation before the courts and the administrative organs.

Hungary 

nia 

Zagreb 

MONTENEGRO 

in BRIEF 

Croatia 

Hungary 

Bosnia and 

Herzegovina 

Sarajevo 

Belgrade 

Serbia 

r i a t i c S e a 


Kosovo 

Podgorica 

Bulgaria 

Skopje 


Albania 

National name: Republika Crna Gora 

Republic. Montenegro, formerly part of Serbia 

and Montenegro, gained independence on June 3, 

2006. 

President: Filip Vujanovic (2006) 

Prime Minister: vacant 


S e a 

Land area: 5,333 sq mi (13,812 sq km); total area: 

5,415 sq mi (14,026 sq km) 

Population (2007 est.): 684,736 (growth rate: - 

1.0%); birth rate: 11.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 

10.6/1000; life expectancy: 77.0; density per sq 

mi: 128 

Capital (1991 est.): Podgorica (administrative 

capital), 117,875; Cetinje (capital city), 14,700 

Other large cities (1991): Nikšić, 56,141; Kotor, 

5,620 

Monetary unit: Euro 

Languages: Serbian/Montenegrin 

(Ijekavian dialect—official) 

Ethnicity/race: Montenegrin 43%, Serbian 32%, 

Bosniak 8%, Albanian 5%, other (Muslims, Croats, 

Roma) 12% 

Religions: Orthodox, Muslim, Roman Catholic 

Literacy rate: 96.4% (2002 est.) 

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): 

$2.412 billion; per capita $3,800. 

Real growth rate: n.a. 

Inflation: 3.4% (2004). 

Unemployment: 27.7%. Arable land: 13.7%. 

Agriculture: grains, tobacco, potatoes, citrus 

fruits, olives, grapes; sheepherding; commercial 

Greece 

fishing negligible. 

Labor force: 259,100; agriculture 2%, industry 

30%, services 68% (2004). 

Industries: steelmaking, agricultural processing, 

consumer goods, tourism. 

Natural resources: bauxite, hydroelectricity. 

Exports: $171.3 million (2003). 

Imports: $601.7 million (2003). 

Major trading partners: Switzerland, Italy, Bosnia 

and Herzegovina, Greece, Germany. 


During the era of communism Montenegro experienced 

a rapid period of urbanization and industrialization. 

An industrial sector based on electricity 

generation, steel, aluminum, coal mining, forestry 

and wood processing, textiles and tobacco manufacture 

was built up, with trade, overseas shipping, 

and particularly tourism, increasingly important 

by the late 1980s. 

The loss of previously guaranteed markets and 

suppliers after the breakup of Yugoslavia left the 

Montenegrin industrial sector reeling as production 

was suspended and the privatization program, 

begun in 1989, was interrupted. The disintegration 

of the Yugoslav market, and the imposition of the 

UN sanctions in May 1992 were the causes of the 

greatest economic and financial crisis since World 

War II. During 1993, two thirds of the Montenegrin 

population lived below the poverty line, while 

41 


42 


frequent interruptions in relief supplies caused the 

health and environmental protection to drop below 

the minimum of international standards. The 

financial losses under the adverse effects of the 

UN sanctions on the overall economy of Montenegro 

are estimated to be approximately $6.39 

billion. This period also experienced the second 

highest hyperinflation in history (3 million percent 

in January 1994) (The highest hyperinflation 

happened in Hungary after the end of World War 

II, when inflation there hit 4.19 x 1016 percent). 

In 1997, Milo Đukanović took control over the ruling 

Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro 

(DPS) and began severing ties with Milosevic’ Serbia. 

He blamed the policies of Slobodan Milošević 

for the overall decline of the Montenegrin economy, 

as well as Milošević’s systematic persecution 

of non-Serbs. Montenegro introduced the German 

mark as response to again-growing inflation, and 

insisted on taking more control over its economic 

fate. This eventually resulted in creation of Serbia 

and Montenegro, a loose union in which Montenegro 

mostly took responsibility for its economic 

policies. 

This was followed by implementation of faster 

and more efficient privatization, passing of reform 

laws, introduction of VAT and usage of Euro as 

Montenegro’s legal tender. 

The Montenegro’s transition to market economy 

has been accompanied with enormous difficulties. 

However, even prior to the imposition of 

sanctions, in its attempts to exploit uniqueness 

of Montenegro, the Government of Montenegro 

has established several attractive global economic 

projects which have drawn interest (but not significant 

amount of capital yet), of foreign and domestic 

investors alike. Among these projects, the 

most attractive, at least as a approach to sustainable 

development, are the projects: 

 

 

Economic review 

Ecological State of Montenegro and 

Montenegro Free Economic Zone. 

These projects are expected to achieve rapid economic 

development, as well as accelerating the 

transition of Montenegrin economy by attracting 

foreign investment, after the outer wall of UN 

sanctions is lifted, and Montenegro and Yugoslavia 

(or one of them) are reintegrated in the international 

financial community. 

Year 2000. 2001. 2002. 2003. 2004. 2005. 

GDP, market prices (EUR milion) 1.022,2 1.224,8 1.301,5 1.375 1.475 1.580* 

GDP real growth (annual in %) -0,2 1,7 2,53 2,73* 4* 

GDP per capita (EUR) 1.679 2.031 2.113 2.231* 2.378* 2.548* 

Inflation (CPI changes) 24,8 28 9,4 6,7 4,3 3,0* 

Industrial output (annual percentage changes) 3,7 -0,7 0,6 2,4 13,8 

Unemployement rate (% of the total labour force) 37 37 .25,82 22,16 

Monetary reserves (EUR million) 53,5 

Montenegro’s budget deficit (EUR million) 438,8 502,7 

External debts as % of GDP 32,0 34,0 

Balance of payements current account 

(EUR million) 

-114 -118 

Montenegro’s budget deficit (EUR million) 25,16 45,29 32,21 34,32* 

Share in GDP (in %) 2,01 3,29 2,18 2,17 

Export of goods (USD million) 161,3 178,0 194,2 171,3 

Import of goods (USD million) 354,5 529,4 681,6 601,7 

Balane of trade (deficit-surplus, USD million) 193,2 351,4 487,4 430,4 

* Evaluation 

Gross domestic product of the entire economy - Organisation principle - current prices 

Sect. Year 2000.* 2001.* 2002.** 2002.*** 2003. 

Total 2.471.756 3.397.400 1.868.849

MONTENEGRO 

Intellectual Property Rights 


In this chapter, the current situation regarding the regulatory framework for intellectual property (IP) 

protection and enforcement in Montenegro shall be presented. 

IP legal regime in Montenegro currently encompasses seven relevant laws most of which were previously 

promulgated as laws of former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. All the laws were adopted with 

a view to harmonization of IP legislation with the relevant EU standards and requirements imposed by 

WTO and TRIPS Agreement. 

In addition, it should be emphasized that Montenegrin customs regulations, as well as the Criminal 

Code of the Republic of Montenegro provide significant support for IP rights enforcement, as indicated 

below. 


43 

The following laws regulate IP rights in Montenegro: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Law on Copyright and Related Rights (2004) regulates both copyright (relating to various 

kinds of works of authorship, such as literary, scientific and artistic works) and related rights (phonogram 

producer right, videogram producer right, performer’s right, broadcast producer right, database 

producer right); 

Law on Trademarks (2004) regulates trademark registration and protection; 

Law on Protection of Topographies of Integrated Circuits (2004) regulates protection of topographies 

of integrated circuits, inventor’s rights and those of legal entities within which the topographies 

have been invented; 

Law on Patents (2004) regulates protection of inventions by patent (for inventions which are new, 

involve inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application) or petty patent (for inventions 

which are new and industrially applicable, but lack inventive step required for a patent); 

Law on Designs Legal Protection (2004) regulates protection of the exterior form of the product (the 

“Law on Designs”); 

Law on Geographical Origin Markings (2006) regulates registration and protection of the names of 

origin and geographical indications; 

Law on Implementation of Regulations Governing Intellectual Property Rights Protection (2005) introduces 

special authorities of the inspectorates within relevant Montenegrin state authorities with 

regard to IP infringing actions, as well as economic misdemeanours and petty offences liability for IP 

infringing actions (the “Law on Implementation”). 


Furthermore, the regulatory framework related to enforcement of IP rights is quite well established and 

implemented in Montenegro, as follows:

44 

 

 

 

The Customs Law of the Republic of Montenegro, adopted in 2002 with last amendments from 

2006, i.e. the Regulation on Dealing of Customs Authorities with the Goods under Reasonable 

Doubt to Infringe Intellectual Property Rights, adopted in 2005, envisages solid and comprehensive 

IP protection at the state border by enabling IP rights holders to request from the Montenegrin 

Customs Authority to suspend the import procedure in case the object of such procedure is 

infringing goods. 

The Law on Implementation stipulates that relevant inspectorates (including market inspectorate) 

are authorized to seize the goods if they establish, during performance of their regular activities, that 

such goods are IP infringing goods. In addition, this Law introduces economic misdemeanours and 

petty offences liability for IP infringing actions, as well as monetary fines as sanctions for the persons 

performing such actions, in the amount of up to EUR 30.000,00 for legal entities and up to EUR 

3.000,00 for responsible persons in such legal entities. 

The IP Laws provide that in case of IP rights infringement, the IP right owner can initiate a litigation 

procedure concerning the acts of IP rights infringement before the competent court. 

Criminal Code of the Republic of Montenegro, adopted in 2003 with last amendments from 2006, 

introduces criminal offences against IP rights, i.e. copyright and related rights, patent and design, as 

a special group of criminal offences; in addition, the Criminal Code governs criminal offence against 

trademarks and geographical indications of origin. Regarding the sanctions, it prescribes both monetary 

fines and imprisonment of up to eight years for violations of IP rights constituting relevant 

criminal offences. 

Additionally, regarding the international treaties governing IP rights, the following facts should be pointed 

out at this level of Montenegrin IP regulatory framework development: 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 4 December 2006, the Government of Montenegro deposited a declaration (the “Declaration”) 

with the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) the effect of 

which is that the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Protocol 

relating to the Madrid Agreement continue to be applicable in Montenegro as of 3 June 2006 

(which is the date on which the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro ceased to exist, i.e. the date 

when Montenegro declared its independence). As a result, as of 4 December 2006 it is possible to 

file a request for territorial extension to Montenegro and to designate Montenegro in applications 

for trademarks international registration. In other words, Montenegro is officially one of the available 

designated countries within the Madrid system. 

The Declaration, as well as the declaration deposited on 23 October 2006, proclaimed that the 

treaties listed below continue to be applicable as of 3 June 2006, in respect of the territory of the 

Republic of Montenegro and that Montenegro accepts the obligations set forth by the said treaties in 

respect of its territory. The list of the treaties is provided below: 

The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization; 

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property; 

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works; 

The Madrid Agreement for the Repression of False or Deceptive Indications of Source of Goods; 

The Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks; 

The Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks; 

The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs (the Hague Act) 

and the Stockholm Complementary Act; 

The Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes 

of the Registration of Marks 

The Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs;

The Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin 

and their International Registration; 

The Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol; 

The Trademark Law Treaty (TLT); 

WIPO Copyright Treaty; 

WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty; 

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT); 

The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit 

of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure; 

The Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying 

Signals Transmitted by Satellite; 

The Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers 

of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations; 

Phonograms Convention (the Convention for the Protection of 

Producers of Phonograms against Unauthorized Duplication of 

Their Phonograms). 

The Intellectual Property Office (IP Office) is to be the competent 

state authority dealing with all the intellectual property rights. Namely, 

under the Decree on Amendments and Supplements of the Decree 

on Organization and Manner of State Administration Work, adopted 

in 2007, the IP Office – envisaged as the state authority competent 

for dealing with all IP matters - should have commenced its actual 

work by 19 July 2007. However, although it has been established, its 

work has not started yet. It is expected that the IP Office will start 

working by the end of 2008. Up to that moment and concluding by 

the analogy with Serbian IP Office, it might be assumed that all the 

competencies and procedural rules and requirements of Serbian IP Office shall accordingly be taken over 

by organizational structure of the newly established Montenegrin authority particularly if we take into 

consideration that the current Montenegrin laws governing IP rights registration are the laws which have 

been applied in the former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, i.e. which are still applied in Serbia in 

the relevant procedures before the Serbian IP Office. 

Regarding other organizations that exist in the IP sector, the association protecting copyright should be mentioned, 

namely it is the Organization for Protection of Rights of Music Authors of Montenegro (PAM CG). 

Copyright 

Registration of copyright is not required for establishment of that right, but it is desirable. In order to be 

registered, one should file the application with the IP Office which will, provided that it contains all the 

required information and that all the required documents have been filed together with the application, 

issue the Certificate of Registration of the Work of Authorship. 

45 


The IP Office does not review the content of the work of authorship, but merely registers the work in 

files of deposited works of authorship and related rights works. In case that the original work is in a foreign 

language the deposited copy should be in the language of the original work. 

The application should include the specific data on the applicant, the author and the work of authorship 

itself, including: (a) particulars on the applicant, (b) particulars on the author (if the applicant is not the 

author), (c) title of the work, (d) information on the type of work, (e) indication whether the work is cre-

ated during employment, (f) information on manner or intended manner of the work use. 

In addition, the following documents should be filed with the application: (a) signed copy of the work, 

(b) description of the work (if applicable), (c) legal grounds for filing the application, i.e. statement on 

the legal grounds if the application is not filed by the author, (d) statement on the representative of the 

copyright holders, if there are more holders of the copyright, (e) power of attorney (if the application is 

filed by the authorized representative), (f) payment of the prescribed fee. 

The author has exclusive pecuniary rights with regard to his/her work, i.e. he/she is exclusively entitled 

to exploitation of his/her work. In addition, the author has exclusive moral rights over his/her work (right 

to be recognized and named as the author, right to disclose his/her work, as well as right to protect the 

work’s integrity and to oppose unbecoming exploitation of the work). 


years following the author’s death. In the case of joint authorship this period begins from the death of 

the last author. In the case of anonymous authors or works under pseudonym this period begins from 

the date of publishing of the work. If the work has been published in sequences this period begins from 

the date the last sequence is published. 

46 

Works of authorship created by foreign authors will be protected under the condition that the author 

is the copyright holder on the basis of an international treaty ratified by Montenegro or if there is 

a reciprocity between Montenegro and the author’s country. However, the foreign author’s moral 

rights will be recognized irrespective of whether the mentioned requirements for copyright protection 

are fulfilled. 


Trademarks 

To enjoy protection a trademark needs to be registered. Trademark registration procedure is to be initiated 

by filing an application with the IP Office. 

 

 

 


request for trademark protection (including name and address of the applicant, relevant colour combination 

if the mark is in colour, information on the trademark type, i.e. individual, collective or warranty 

trademark, the applicant’s signature and stamp); 

appearance of the mark which is the subject of the application; 

list of the goods/services for which the trademark is to be registered (in accordance with the 

Nice Agreement Concerning International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purpose of 

Marks Registration (Nice classification). 



After the registration procedure is finished, the IP Office issues the Certificate on Trademark. Once registered 

the trademark protection is granted for the period of 10 years, but this period may be extended, 

upon payment of the prescribed fee, for an unlimited number of times. 




Foreign persons can obtain protection only on the basis of international treaties or reciprocity and under the 

condition that they are represented in the procedure before the IP Office by the authorized representative 

(a representative listed in the Register of Representatives kept by the IP Office or a domestic attorney).

Patents 

The procedure for patent registration should be commenced with the IP Office. The person applying for 

registration of the patent is considered to be the inventor. Upon registration of the patent, the applicant 

is considered to be the holder of the patent. 


 

 

 

 

 

request for patent protection (including particulars on the applicant and the inventor, indication that 

patent recognition is required, name of the invention, etc.); 

description of the invention; 

one or more patent claims (claims describing the invention and the inventor’s request on what 


drawing referred to in the description and patent claims, when appropriate; 

abstract (summary of the invention’s essential content, with the purpose of providing technical information 


In addition, the same as in other IP rights registration in the procedure before the IP Office, power of 

attorney (if the application is filed by the authorized representative) and payment of the prescribed fees 

must be submitted. 

The patent lasts for 20 years following the date of filing the application. The dues are payable yearly 

commencing from the third year from the date of filing. 

Once filed, the application will be formally examined. Upon formal examination and payment of the 

publication fees, the application shall be published as soon as possible upon expiry of 18 months from 

the application filing date (at the applicant’s request, it may be published earlier but not before the expiry 

of three months from the filing date). Substantial examination (examination of the invention patentability) 

shall follow after the application publication, on the basis of the applicant’s request which should 

be filed within six months following the publication date. If the IP Office establishes, during the process 

of substantive examination, that all the requirements for granting the patent have been met, it will send 

to the applicant the draft of the final wording of the patent claims for adoption, with which the applicant 

should agree within 30 days. The next step of the IP Office is issuance of the decision on granting the 

patent provided that all the prescribed fees and costs have been paid. Particulars on the granted patent 

will be entered in the appropriate register of the IP Office and published in the Official Journal of the IP 

Office. IP Office will provide the patent owner with the Certificate on Patent and Patent Specification. 

The patent owner will be exclusively entitled to commercial use of the protected invention, i.e. he/she 

will be exclusively entitled to use it in the production, to place the subject of the protected invention on 

the market and to dispose of the patent. 

Foreign persons can obtain protection only on the basis of international treaties or reciprocity and under 

the condition that they are represented in the procedure before the IP Office by the authorized representative 

(a representative listed in the Register of Representatives kept by the IP Office or a domestic 

attorney). 

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, the Law on Patents stipulates that the following will not be considered as an invention: 

discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods; 

aesthetic creations; 


computer software; 

presentations of information. 

47 


In addition, the following inventions cannot be protected: 

 

inventions, the commercial use of which would be contrary to public policy or morality, including the

48 


 

 

process of cloning human beings ; 

inventions concerning methods for treatment by surgery or diagnostic methods or therapy 

practiced directly on the human or animal bodies, except for products or substances and compositions 

for use in any of these methods; 

plant or animal varieties, or essentially biological processes for their production, exceptv for: (a) biotechnological 

processes concerning a plant or animal, if technical feasibility of the invention is not 

confined to a particular plant or animal variety, (b) microbiological or other technical processes or 

products obtained by means of such processes. 

Designs 

The new Law on Designs provides solid protection for designs as required under the TRIPS Agreement 

and it was adopted in order to fulfil the requirements relating to EU Directives, The Hague Convention 

and the TRIPS Agreement. The current law stipulates priority rights that are covered by foreign natural 

and legal entities from Paris Union countries and for WTO members as well. Therefore, this new Law on 

Designs is in compliance with EU Regulations and the TRIPS Agreement. 

According to the Law on Designs, the external shape of a product can be protected as a design. Design 

is, under the Law, two-dimensional or three-dimensional appearance of the product or a part of the 

product, determined by its visual characteristics (such as lines, colours, texture, materials the product is 

made of or decorated by) as well as their combination.

In order to register a design, it is necessary to file an application with the IP Office. 

The application should include: 

 

 

 

request for design protection; 

design description; 

two-dimensional appearance of the design. 


The IP Office issues the Certificate on Design. Once registered, the design registration is valid for 25 

years from the filing date. 




attorney). 


The new Law on Geographical Origin Indications provides protection for the names of origin and 

geographical indications. Foreign persons can obtain protection only if represented by the authorized 

representative (a representative listed in the Register of Representatives kept by the IP Office or an 

attorney). 

The procedure for the names of origin, i.e. geographical indications registration should be initiated before 

the IP Office by filing an application. One application can relate to only one name of origin or geographical 

indication and only one type of products. 

 

 

 


request for protection of the name of the origin, i.e. geographical indication (if an application is filed 

by a foreign natural person or legal entity/association, the request should include an official document 

issued by the relevant authority in the country of origin which confirms that the name of the 

origin, i.e. geographical indication is recognized in the country of origin); 

description of the geographical region; 

information on special characteristic of the product. 

The registered name of the origin, i.e. geographical indication is published in the Official Journal of the 

IP Office. Its duration is not limited. 

Besides the procedure of the names of origin/geographical indications registration, the Law governs the 

procedure for recognition of the authorized user of a name of origin/geographical indication. In order to 

become the authorized user, the application should be filed with the IP Office. 


 

 

 

request for recognition of the authorized user status; 

proof of performance of certain activity at a certain geographical location; 

proof on execution of the product quality control. 

The IP Office issues the Certificate on Authorized User Status and the relevant information on that matter 

is published in the Official Journal of the IP Office. The recognized status lasts for three years, but this 

period may be extended, upon payment of the prescribed fee, for an unlimited number of times, as long 

as the name of the origin, i.e. the geographical indication to which it relates, lasts. 

49 


Authorized users are exclusively entitled to use the registered name of origin, i.e. geographical indication. 

They can use it for marking the products to which the name of origin, i.e. geographical indication relates 

and are exclusively authorized to use the marking “controlled name of origin”. 


50 

Application for topography protection can be filed with the IP Office within two years from the first 

use of the topography for commercial purposes. The application can be filed within 15 years from the 

creation date where the topography has not been used for commercial purposes. 

The application should be filed with the IP Office along with the required enclosures. After examination 

of formal compliance of the application and examination of the conditions for granting the protection 

(protection can be granted only if the topography is a result of the inventor’s intellectual creation and 

if, at the time of its creation, it was not generally known among the topographies creators and the integrated 

circuits producers), the decision will be issued. The acknowledged right will be entered in the 

registry kept with the IP Office and the Certificate on Topography will be issued to the right holder. Furthermore, 

information on the recognized right will be published in the Official Journal of the IP Office. 

Foreign persons can obtain protection for their topographies in Serbia only on the basis of reciprocity and 

they must be represented by a representative authorized by the IP Office. 


commercial use of such topography (whichever of these dates comes earlier). 



The present situation in Montenegro is rather vague. Namely, as indicated above, the IP Office – although 

it has been established – has not commenced its work yet. At this moment we may only presume 

– based on the current Montenegrin laws governing IP rights registration – that the future practice 

of the Montenegrin IP Office shall be as described above, i.e. shall be the same as it is the current practice 

of the Serbian IP Office. However, the details will be fully revealed at the moment when the Montenegrin 

IP Office starts with actual implementation of the relevant IP regulations. 


Government of the Republic 

of Montenegro 

Jovana Tomaševića bb 

81000 Podgorica 

Tel: +382 81 242-830 

www.vlada.cg.yu/ 

Ministry of Finance 

Stanka Dragojevića br. 2 


Tel: +382 81 242-835 

www.ministarstvo-finansija.vlada. 

cg.yu/ 

Montenegrin Chamber 

of Commerce 

Novaka Miloševa 29 – II 


Tel: +382 81 230-545 

www.pkcg.org/set.php 

Central Registry of the Commercial 

Court in Podgorica 

Marka Miljanova 54 


Tel: +382 81 242-626 

www.crps.cg.yu 

Statistical Office of the Republic 

of Montenegro-MONSTAT 

IV Proleterske br. 2 


Tele: +382 81 241-206 

Fax: +382 81 241-270 

www.monstat.cg.yu

SERBIA 

in BRIEF 

Hungary 

ia 

Zagreb 

Croatia 

Romania 

Bosnia and 

Herzegovina 

Sarajevo 

Belgrade 

Serbia 

i a t i c S e a 


Kosovo 

Podgorica 

Bulgaria 

Skopje 


51 

Albania 

National name: Republika Srbija 

President: Boris Tadic (2008) Greece 

Prime Minister: Vojislav Kostunica (2006) 

Land and total area: 34,116 sq mi (88,361 sq km) 

Ethnicity/race: Serb 66%, Albanian 17%, Hungarian 

3.5%, other 13.5% (1991) 

Religions: Serbian Orthodox, Muslim, Roman 

Catholic, Protestant 


S e a 

Serbia is a middle–income country with a population 

of around 8 million and great potential for 

fast economic development, as the country is endowed 

with natural and mineral resources and fertile 

and arable agricultural land. Serbia is also well 

positioned for development of a transportation 

hub, given its strategic location at the crossroads 

of major road and rail routes in Southeastern Europe. 

Most economic activity is concentrated in 

services (about 63 percent of GDP), industry (24 

percent) and agriculture (13 percent). 

After the turmoil of the 1990s, Serbia has made 

significant progress since beginning a wide ranging 

program of democratic and economic reforms 

in 2001. Macro–economic stability has been restored, 

and incomes have risen strongly. GDP per 

capita, estimated at $2,100 in 2002, is approaching 

$5,400 at the end of 2007. During the same 

time period, poverty has fallen from 14.6 percent 

of the population to about 8.8 percent (according 

to Household Budget Survey). 

2007* 

Population, total (millions) 7.5 

Population growth (annual %) 0.2 

Life expectancy at birth, female (years) 75 

Life expectancy at birth, male (years) 70 

Poverty headcount ratio at $2 a day (PPP) (% of 

population) 

/ 

GDP (current US$) (billions) 40.8 

GDP growth (annual %) 7 

GNI per capita, Atlas method 

(current US$) 

4550 

Inflation, consumer prices (annual %) 6.9 

Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) 4.5 

Unemployment, total 

20.9 

(% of total labor force) 

Time required to start a business (days) 23 

Internet users (per 1,000 people) 299 

Source: World Development (2007), except unemployment rate (2006) 

*Most recent data available 2001—2006. 

NB: Data, including lending data below, is for Serbia and Montenegro 


52 



Recent Economic Developments 

During the 1990s, Serbia was exposed to wars 

and economic sanctions. The political changes since 

2000 have laid the foundations for making a clean 

break with the past decade of economic decline. They 

have done so by creating the basis for economic and 

social reforms, as well as for increased donor support. 

Strong economic progress has been made since 

2001, particularly in expanding private sector participation 

in the economy. The reform program has 

helped to underpin the country’s strong economic 

performance and reductions in poverty. Macroeconomic 

stability, achieved swiftly in 2001 and 2002, 

has been broadly maintained. During the first five 

years of transition the economy grew on average 5.5 

percent per annum, peaking in 2004 with 9.3 percent 

GDP growth, one of the highest growth rates among 

transition economies. In 2007, growth remained 

strong at projected 7.5 percent. There have also been 

major improvements in the business environment that 

saw Serbia ranked as the top reformer globally in Doing 

Business 2006 report, for reforms carried out in 

2004—2005. Still, further reforms to strengthen the 

environment for sustained private sector led growth, 

including continued structural reforms and privatization, 

will be vital to ensure living standards continue 

to converge with those in Europe. 

Poverty and unemployment remain concerns in 

Serbia. During the past decade, a long period of instability, 

international isolation, and economic turmoil 

adversely affected the living standards of a vast majority 

of the population. The country’s poor economic 

performance over that period led to a decrease in real 

earnings and was accompanied by deterioration in social 

protection and health services. As a result, poverty 

rose sharply in the 1990s. Although currently around 

6.6 (according to Living Standard Measurement Survey) 

percent of the population falls below the poverty 

line, one third of the country’s people are barely above 

the poverty line and remain in danger of slipping into 

poverty if any adverse economic developments occur. 

The official unemployment rate is alarmingly high at 

around 20 percent of the labor force, especially affecting 

young people and minority groups. 

However, despite Serbia’s strong growth performance, 

significant challenges remain. External weaknesses 

are apparent in double–digit and expanding 

current account deficit. External debt remains about 

60 percent of GDP, despite past London and Paris 

Club debt write downs. Although public debt has 

declined significantly, private external liabilities continue 

to grow quickly. Although policy action and 

fiscal restraint will be required to address external 

weaknesses, Serbia’s reserves position is currently 

very comfortable as a result of strong private sector 

inflows including foreign direct investment. Foreign 

direct investments (FDI) averaged 6.7 percent of 

GDP over the last 5 years, resulting in Serbia being 

among the top countries in Europe and Central Asia 

with respect to attracting such investment. FDI was 

especially strong in 2006, as a result of several large 

privatization deals, including the sale of a mobile 

telephone operator. 

At over 40 percent of GDP, public expenditure 

remains high. While a fiscal adjustment occurred between 

2003 and 2005, with expenditures falling from 

almost 44 percent of GDP to just over 40 percent, 

those gains have been reversed with recent wage rises 

and spending pressures as a result of election promises 

in run–up to the parliamentary elections in 2007, and 

a deficit has again emerged. Fiscal loosening has also 

created inflationary pressures and pushed the annual 

average inflation rate close to 7 percent. 

With a GDP for 2007 estimated at $54.547 billion, 

which is $7,265 per capita Purchasing Power Parity 

(PPP), ($5,397 nominal), Republic of Serbia is considered 

an upper-middle income economy by the World 

Bank[47]. Growth in 2007 is estimated at 7.5%. The 

GDP growth rate in 2006 was 5.8%.[48] Growth in 

2005 was 6.3%[49] FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) 

in 2006 was $5.85 billion or €4.5 billion. FDI for 2007 

reached $4.2 Billion, while real GDP per capita figures 

are estimated to have reached $5 600 (October 

2007). 

The Serbian economy is based mostly on services, industry 

and agriculture. In the late 1980s, at the beginning 

of the process of economic transition, its position 

compared to other communist countries was favorable. 

However, its economy was gravely impacted by 

the UN economic sanctions of 1992–95, as well as 

the sizable infrastructure and industry damage, suffered 

during the NATO air strikes in 1999. Its problems 

were only augmented by losing the ex-Yugoslavia and 

Comecon markets. Although, seeing a robust recovery 

the economy still faces many problems, among which 

high unemployment and the slow pace of structural 

reforms are most prominent. 

Serbia grows about one-third of the world’s raspberries 

and is the leading frozen fruit exporter. 

Main industries: pharmaceuticals, agricultural machinery, 

electrical and communication equipment, paper and 

pulp, lead, transportation equipment, food.

SERBIA 



In this chapter, we will present the current situation regarding the regulatory framework for intellectual 

property (IP) protection and enforcement in Serbia. 

Currently, legal regime of the Republic of Serbia (RS) relating to IP consists of eight relevant laws that 

have been harmonized with the respective EU regulations and WTO requirements. 

It should be emphasized that the Serbian Customs Law adopted in 2003, provides solid IP protection at 

the state border by enabling the IP right holders to request the Serbian Customs Authority to stop any 

import procedure if the subject of such procedure is infringing goods. 

In addition, the Serbian Criminal Code adopted in 2005, introduces a group of criminal offences against 

IP rights as a special group of criminal offences. 


The following laws regulate IP rights in Serbia: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Law on Copyright and Related Rights (2004) regulates both copyright (relating to various 

kinds of works of authorship, such as literary, scientific and artistic works) and related rights (phonogram 

producer right, videogram producer right, performer’s right, broadcast producer right, database 

producer right); 

Law on Trademarks (2004) regulates trademark registration and protection; 

Law on Protection of Topographies of Integrated Circuits (2004) regulates protection of topographies 

of integrated circuits, inventor’s rights and those of legal entities within which the topographies 

have been invented; 

Law on Patents (2004) regulates protection of inventions by patent (for inventions which are new, 

involve inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application) or petty patents (for inventions 

which are new and industrially applicable, but lack inventive step required for a patent); 

Law on Designs Legal Protection (2004) regulates protection of the exterior form of the product (the 

“Law on Designs”); 

Law on Geographical Origin Markings (2006) regulates registration and protection of the names of 

origin and geographical indications. 

Law on Special Powers for the Purpose of Intellectual Property Rights Efficient Protection (2006) 

introduces special authorizations of the inspectorates within relevant Serbian ministries with regard 

to IP infringing actions, as well as economic misdemeanours and petty offences liability for IP infringing 

actions; 

Law on Organization and Competence of the State Authorities for Fighting High-tech Crime (2005) 

stipulates that special departments for fighting high-tech crime shall be established within the District 

Public Prosecutor’s Office and Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as a special panel 

within the District Court in Belgrade. 

53 


Additionally, RS (as a successor state of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro which ceased to exist 

as of June 2006 when Montenegro declared its independence) has ratified the main conventions relating 

to IP protection, such as the Madrid Agreement and Protocol Concerning the International Registration 

of Marks, the Universal Copyright Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the European Patent 

Convention, the Berne Copyright Convention, and the Strasbourg Agreement Concerning International 

Patent Classification. 

The Intellectual Property Office (IP Office) is the competent state authority dealing with IP rights. Decisions 

of the IP Office are final (no appeal can be filed against such decisions), but they can be subject to 

administrative dispute procedure before the Supreme Court of the Republic of Serbia. 

There is a number of other organizations that exist in the IP sector, including the Serbian Copyright 

Agency and various collective societies protecting copyright and related rights such as the Organization 

for Protection of Music Works of Authorship (SOKOJ), Organization of Phonogram Producers in 

Serbia (O.F.P.S.), Organization for Protection of Actors’ Rights (PRAGUS), etc. The most reputable nongovernmental 

organization dealing with improvement of IP matters in Serbia is the IPR Committee of 

AMCHAM (American Chamber of Commerce). The IPR Committee gathers all the relevant factors about 

IP business in Serbia and has considerable influence on the relevant governmental bodies responsible for 

the improvement of IP rights and enforcement. 

54 


Copyright 

Registration of copyright is not required for establishment of that right, but it is desirable. In order to be 

registered, one should file the application with the IP Office which will, provided that it contains all the 

required information and that all the required documents have been filed together with the application, 

issue the Certificate of Registration of the Work of Authorship. 

The IP Office does not review the content of the work of authorship, but merely registers the work in 

files of deposited works of authorship and related rights works. In case that the original work is in a foreign 

language the deposited copy should be in the language of the original work. 

The application should include the specific data on the applicant, the author and the work of authorship 

itself, including: (a) particulars on the applicant, (b) particulars on the author (if the applicant is not the

author), (c) title of the work, (d) information on the type of work, (e) indication whether the work is created 

during employment, (f) information on manner or intended manner of the work use. 

In addition, the following documents should be filed with the application: (a) signed copy of the work, 

(b) description of the work (if applicable), (c) legal grounds for filing the application, i.e. statement on 

the legal grounds if the application is not filed by the author, (d) statement on the representative of the 

copyright holders, if there are more holders of the copyright, (e) power of attorney (if the application is 

filed by the authorized representative), (f) payment of the prescribed fee. 

The author has exclusive pecuniary rights with regard to his/her work, i.e. he/she is exclusively entitled 

to exploitation of his/her work. In addition, the author has exclusive moral rights over his/her work (right 

to be recognized and named as the author, right to disclose his/her work, as well as right to protect the 

work’s integrity and to oppose unbecoming exploitation of the work). 


years following the author’s death. In the case of joint authorship this period begins from the death of 

the last author. In the case of anonymous authors or works under pseudonym this period begins from 

the date of publishing of the work. If the work has been published in sequences this period begins from 

the date the last sequence is published. 

Works of authorship created by foreign authors will be protected under the condition that the 

author is the copyright holder on the basis of an international treaty ratified by RS or if there is a 

reciprocity between RS and the author’s country. However, the foreign author’s moral rights will 

be recognized irrespective of whether the mentioned requirements for copyright protection are 

fulfilled. 

55 

Trademarks 

To enjoy protection a trademark needs to be registered. Trademark registration procedure is to be initiated 

by filing an application with the IP Office. 


 

 

 

request for trademark protection (including name and address of the applicant, relevant colour combination 

if the mark is in colour, information on the trademark type, i.e. individual, collective or warranty 

trademark, the applicant’s signature and stamp); 

appearance of the mark which is the subject of the application; 

list of the goods/services for which the trademark is to be registered (in accordance with the 

Nice Agreement Concerning International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purpose of 

Marks Registration (Nice classification). 



Furthermore, the fee of approximately EUR 65 must be paid when the trademark application is filed. An 

additional fee of approximately EUR 120 is required for a 10-year registration period and must be paid 

at the moment of registration. 

After the registration procedure is finished, the IP Office issues the Certificate on Trademark. Once registered 

the trademark protection is granted for the period of 10 years, but this period may be extended, 

upon payment of the prescribed fee, for an unlimited number of times. 




Foreign persons can obtain protection only on the basis of international treaties or reciprocity and under the 

condition that they are represented in the procedure before the IP Office by the authorized representative 

(a representative listed in the Register of Representatives kept by the IP Office or a domestic attorney). 


Patents 

56 


The procedure for patent registration should be commenced with the IP Office. The person applying for 

registration of the patent is considered to be the inventor. Upon registration of the patent, the applicant 

is considered to be the holder of the patent. 


 

 

 

 

 

request for patent protection (including particulars on the applicant and the inventor, indication that 

patent recognition is required, name of the invention, etc.); 

description of the invention; 

one or more patent claims (claims describing the invention and the inventor’s request on what 


drawing referred to in the description or patent claims, when appropriate; 

abstract (summary of the invention’s essential content, with the purpose of providing technical information 


In addition, the same as in other IP rights registration in the procedure before the IP Office, power of 

attorney (if the application is filed by the authorized representative) and payment of the prescribed fees 

must be submitted. 

The patent lasts for 20 years following the date of filing the application. The dues are payable yearly 

commencing from the third year from the date of filing. 

Once filed, the application will be formally examined. Upon formal examination and payment of the 

publication fees, the application shall be published as soon as possible upon expiry of 18 months from 

the application filing date (at the applicant’s request, it may be published earlier but not before the 

expiry of three months from the filing date). Substantial examination (examination of the invention 

patentability) shall follow after the application publication, on the basis of the applicant’s request which 

should be filed within six months following the publication date. If the IP Office establishes, during the 

process of substantive examination, that all the requirements for granting the patent have been met, it 

will send to the applicant the draft of the final wording of the patent claims for adoption, with which 

the applicant should agree within 30 days. The next step of the IP Office is issuance of the decision on 

granting the patent provided that all the prescribed fees and costs have been paid. Particulars on the 

granted patent will be entered in the appropriate register of the IP Office and published in the Official 

Journal of the IP Office. IP Office will provide the patent owner with the Certificate on Patent and Patent 

Specification. The patent owner will be exclusively entitled to the commercial use of the protected 

invention, i.e. he/she will be exclusively entitled to use it in the production, to place the subject of the 

protected invention on the market and to dispose of the patent. 

Furthermore, it is possible to ask for extension of the European Patent for the territory of RS. 




attorney). 

Furthermore, the Law on Patents stipulates that the following will not be considered an invention: 

 

 

 

 

 

discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods; 

aesthetic creations; 


computer software; 

presentations of information. 

In addition, the following inventions cannot be protected:

inventions, the commercial use of which would 

be contrary to public policy or morality, including 

the process of cloning human beings ; 

inventions concerning methods for treatment 

by surgery or diagnostic methods or therapy 

practiced directly on the human or animal bodies, 

except for products or substances and compositions 

for use in any of these methods; 

plant or animal varieties, or essentially biological 

processes for their production, except for: (a) 

biotechnological processes concerning a plant or 

animal, if technical feasibility of the invention is 

not confined to a particular plant or animal variety, 

(b) microbiological or other technical processes 

or products obtained by means of such 

processes. 

Designs 

The new Law on Designs provides solid protection for designs as required under the TRIPS Agreement 

and it was adopted in order to fulfil the requirements relating to EU Directives, The Hague Convention 

and the TRIPS Agreement. The current law stipulates priority rights that are covered by foreign natural 

and legal entities from Paris Union countries and for WTO members as well. Therefore, this new Law on 

Designs is in compliance with EU Regulations and the TRIPS Agreement. 

According to the Law on Designs, the external shape of a product can be protected as a design. Design 

is, under the Law, two-dimensional or three-dimensional appearance of the product or a part of the 

product, determined by its visual characteristics (such as lines, colours, texture, materials the product is 

made of or decorated by) as well as their combination. 

In order to register a design, it is necessary to file an application with the IP Office. 

The application should include: 

 

 

 

request for design protection; 

design description; 

two-dimensional appearance of the design. 


The IP Office issues the Certificate of Design. The procedure lasts for approximately 18 months. Once 

registered, the design registration is valid for 25 years from the filing date. 




attorney). 

57 



The new Law on Geographical Origin Indications provides protection for the names of origin and geographical 

indications. Foreign persons can obtain protection only if represented by the authorized representative 

(a representative listed in the Register of Representatives kept by the IP Office or an attorney). 

The procedure for the names of origin, i.e. geographical indications registration should be initiated be-

58 


fore the IP Office by filing an application. One application can relate to only one name of origin or geographical 

indication and only one type of products. 


 

 

 

request for protection of the name of the origin, i.e. geographical indication (if the application is 

filed by a foreign natural person or legal entity/association, the request should include an 

official document issued by the relevant authority in the country of origin which confirms that the 

name of the origin, i.e. geographical indication is recognized in the country of origin); 

description of the geographical region; 

information on special characteristic of the product. 

The registered name of the origin, i.e. geographical indication is published in the Official Journal of the 

IP Office. Its duration is not limited. 

Besides the procedure of the names of origin/geographical indications registration, the Law governs the 

procedure for recognition of the authorized user of a name of origin/geographical indication. In order to 

become the authorized user, the application should be filed with the IP Office. 


 

 

 

request for recognition of the authorized user status; 

proof of performance of certain activity at a certain geographical location; 

proof of execution of the product quality control. 

The IP Office issues the Certificate on Authorized User Status and the relevant information on that matter 

is published in the Official Journal of the IP Office. The recognized status lasts for three years, but this 

period may be extended, upon payment of the prescribed fee, for an unlimited number of times, as long 

as the name of the origin, i.e. the geographical indication to which it relates, lasts. 

Authorized users are exclusively entitled to use the registered name of origin, i.e. geographical indication. 

They can use it for marking the products to which the name of origin, i.e. geographical indication relates 

and are exclusively authorized to use the marking “controlled name of origin”. 

Topographies of 

integrated circuits 

Application for topography protection can be filed with 

the IP Office within two years from the first use of the topography 

for commercial purposes. The application can be 

filed within 15 years from the creation date where the topography 

has not been used for commercial purposes. 

The application should be filed with the IP Office along 

with the required enclosures. After examination of formal 

compliance of the application and examination of the 

conditions for granting the protection (protection can be 

granted only if the topography is a result of the inventor’s 

intellectual creation and if, at the time of its creation, it was 

not generally known among topographies creators and 

integrated circuits producers), the decision will be issued. 

The acknowledged right will be entered in the registry kept 

with the IP Office and the Certificate on Topography will 

be issued to the right holder. Furthermore, information on 

the recognized right will be published in the Official Journal 

of the IP Office.

Foreign persons can obtain protection for their topographies in Serbia only on the basis of reciprocity and 

they must be represented by a representative authorized by the IP Office. 


commercial use of such topography (whicever of these dates comes earlier). 


As previously stated, RS is a member of the main conventions related to IP matters. The current laws are 

new and were adopted in order to coordinate IP legislation with the relevant EU legislation and TRIPS 

Agreement. 

The IP Office is currently processing files from the beginning of 2007 and that creates uncertainty in 

terms of data accuracy. 

IP laws provide that in the case of IP rights infringement, the owner of the IP right can initiate litigation 

procedure before the relevant court. Furthermore, violation of the IP rights may constitute a criminal 

act, regulated by the above-mentioned Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia which prescribes monetary 

fines or imprisonment (up to eight years) for such criminal offences. 

Furthermore, the Law on Special Powers for the Purpose of Intellectual Property Rights Efficient Protection 

stipulates that relevant inspectorates (including market inspectorate) are authorized to seize the 

goods if, during performance of their regular activities, they establish that such goods are IP infringing 

goods. In addition, as indicated above, this Law introduces economic misdemeanors and petty offences 

liability for IP infringing actions, as well as monetary fines as sanctions for the persons performing such 

actions, in the amount of up to RSD 3.000.000,00 (approximately EUR 37.715,00) for legal entities and 

up to RSD 200.000,00 (approximately EUR 2.515,00) for responsible persons in the legal entities. Implementation 

of this Law has already started in practice. 


Intellectual Property Office 

Kneginje Ljubice 5 

11000 Belgrade, Serbia 

Tel: +381 11 20-25-800; 

Fax: +381 11 311-23-77, 

+381 11 26-29-483 

www.yupat.sv.gov.yu/en/home 

Ministry of Economy 

and Regional Development 

Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 15 


Tel: +381 11 3347-231 

Fax: +381 11 3346-770 

www.mpriv.sr.gov.yu 

Ministry of Finance 

of The Republic of Serbia 

Customs Administration 

Bulevar Zorana Đinđića 155a 

11070 New Belgrade, Serbia 

Tel: +381 11 311-67-67 

pr@fcs.yu 

Statistical Office of 

The Republic of Serbia 

Milana Rakića 5 


Tel: +381 11 412-922, 

+381 11 411-260 

www.statserb.sr.gov.yu 

Serbian Chamber of Commerce 

Resavska 13-15 

11000 Beograd, Serbia 

Tel: +381 11 33-00-900 

www.pks.komora.net 

SCEPP Policy 

and Legal Advise Center 

Kneza Miloša 4/2 

11000 Beograd, Serbia 

Tel: +381 11 32-32-193; 

+381 11 32-41-454 

www.plac-yu.org 

59 


SLOVENIA 

in BRIEF 

Hungary 

Slovenia 

Ljubljana 

Zagreb 

Croatia 

Hungary 

60 


Bosnia and 

Herzegovina 


Area: 20,273 km2 

Population: 2,008,516 (30.6.2006) 

Capital Italy city: Ljubljana (330,000) 

Other major cities: Maribor, Celje, Kranj, Velenje, 

Ptuj, Koper, Novo Mesto, Jesenice, Trbovlje, Nova 

Gorica, Murska Sobota 

Ethnic origin of population: Slovene (83.06%), Italian 

(0.16%), Hungarian (0.43%), Others (11.57%) 

Language: Slovene; also Italian and Hungarian in nationally 

mixed areas 

Currency: euro (since 1 January 2007) 

Important dates: 

Independence - 25 June 1991 

Member of EU - 1 May 2004 

Introduction of the euro - 1 January 2007 

The Republic of Slovenia lies at the heart of Europe, 

where the Alps face the Pannonian plains and the 

Mediterranean meets the mysterious Karst. To the 

north is Austria; Hungary is to the east; Croatia to the 

south and Italy to the west. 

Belgrade 

Albania 


S e a 

Serbia 

State 

Under the Constitution, Slovenia is a democratic republic 

and a social state governed by law. 

President of the Republic: Dr Danilo Türk 

Prime Minister: Janez Janša 

Government: Prime Minister, 15 Ministers, 2 Ministers 

without Portfolio 

National Assembly: 90 deputies (88 elected representatives 

of the parliamentary parties and one representative 

each from the Italian and Hungarian national 

communities). 

National Council: 40 elected representatives of em- 

Sarajevo 

ployers, employees, farmers, tradesmen and the selfemployed, 

as well as from the non-economic sector 

and local 

Montenegro 

interest groups. Pristina 

Conventional long/short form: Republic of Slovenia, 

Slovenia 

Kosovo 

Podgorica 

Local long/short form: Republika Slovenija, Slovenija 

Slovenia proclaimed its constitution 

Skopje 

in December 

1991, and its constitutional system is a parliamentary 

democracy. 


The Government consists of the Prime Minister and 

other Ministers. The government and the ministers are 

independent within the framework of their jurisdiction, 

and responsible to the National Assembly. 

Greece 

The current government coalition consists of four parties: 

the Slovenian Democratic Party, New Slovenia- 

Christian People’s Party, Slovenian People’s Party and 

the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia. 

The current government is headed by Prime Minister 

Janez Janša. 

Judicial power in Slovenia is implemented by courts with 

general responsibilities and specialised courts which 

deal with matters relating to specific legal areas. 

The Constitutional Court decides on the conformity of 

laws with the Constitution. The Constitutional Court 

is composed of nine judges - legal experts. They are 

elected for a term of nine years. 

Slovenia and the World 

Slovenia is strengthening its international position and 

reputation as a democratic, stable and successful European 

state, but also strives for the preservation of its 

national identity. 

More about the basic goals of Slovenia’s foreign policy. 

Bulgaria

Economy, Economic Sectors 

Slovenia is directed towards development and a market 

economy. 

Currency: euro (since 1 January 2007) 

GDP per capita in 2006: EUR 14,808 

Growth in GDP in 2006: 5.2% 

Inflation in 2005 (annual average): 2.5% 

Exports of goods and services in 2006: 

EUR 16.7 billion 

Imports of goods and services in 2006: 

EUR 18.3 billion 

Balance of trade in 2004: EUR -168 million 

Unemployment in 2006: 6.0% (surveyed unemployment 

level according to ILO standards) 

Slovenia is among the most successful of the countries 

in transition from socialism to a market economy. It 

boasts a stable growth in GDP and is viewed as a safe 

country, ranked among the countries with the lowest 

degree of risk. Since its independence, Slovenia has 

privatised its economy, stabilised inflation and wage 

growth, halted rising unemployment, strengthened 

its currency, changed over to the common currency of 

European Union euro, relaxed the flow of capital and 

modernised its taxation system. 

Throughout its history Slovenia has always been a 

part of larger countries or even great empires. The 

country saw many changes in its economic system 

– from the mainly agricultural and artisanal period of 

the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the slightly more 

industrialised Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, 

the socialist state-centered industrialisation of the 

former SFR Yugoslavia, to today’s independent Slovenia, 

directed towards development and a market 

economy. 

At the time of its independence in 1991, Slovenia was 

the wealthiest and most open Yugoslav Republic. Although 

Slovenes represented only 8% of the Yugoslav 

population, Slovenia exported almost one-third of all 

goods exported from Yugoslavia. 

After gaining independence, Slovenia managed to overcome 

the loss of the markets in the former Yugoslavia 

in a short period of time, as its trade flows were redirected 

towards the EU and the associated partners. 

In the economic sphere, Slovenia’s level of development 

is quickly catching up with that of the EU. Its 

major trade partners are Germany, Italy, Croatia, Austria 

and France. 

During the period 1995–2005, economic growth in 

Slovenia was stable, reaching an average of about 

4%. The Slovenian economy is open, and levels of internationalization, 

measured by the average share of 

exports and imports in gross domestic product (GDP), 

increased from 51% to 65% from 1995 to 2005. Economic 

growth was further enhanced by an increase in 

the growth of private consumption and investment 

spending, which peaked in 1999. Higher economic 

growth compared to the EU average has enabled a 

gradual decrease in Slovenia’s development lag. Thus 

in 2005, Slovenia reached 82% of the average GDP per 

capita in the EU, in terms of purchasing power, which 

corresponds to an increase of 14 percentage points over 

1995. This placed Slovenia in 16th place in the EU. 

Following economic growth, there was also an increase 

61 

Macro-economic indices for Slovenia in 2006 (real growth rates in %) 

Real GDP growth (in %) 5.2 

GDP per capita in EUR 14,808 

Rate of unemployment by ILO in % 6.0 

Labour productivity 4.0 

Inflation (annual average) 2.5 

in employment, which has exceeded the European average 

since 2004 (in 2005, employment in Slovenia 

was 66%, as against 63.8% in the EU). Compared to 

the EU average, Slovenia also has a considerably high 

employment rate for women (61.3% in 2005). The 

employment of older workers remains low (30.5% 

in 2005), but the situation is improving. For several 

years, unemployment has been slightly lower than 

the EU average (in 2005, 6.5% in Slovenia, as against 

8.8% in the EU). 

Long-term unemployment is also lower than the EU 

average (in 2005, 3.1% in Slovenia and 3.9% in the 

EU). The wages policy ensures a sound increase in 

wages in relation to growth in labour productivity. 

According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of 

Slovenia, the average monthly net wage in December 

2006 was EUR 818.94. 


SLOVENIA 


Law and Patent Office Nina Drnovšek 


62 


Intellectual property rights regulation is a system of laws within the national legislation operating in 

parallel with the international intellectual property rights legal framework. Having in mind the extensiveness 

of the system, presentation of Slovenian national system inevitably raises more questions than 

answers. Notwithstanding the above, the aim of this article is to familiarize the reader with the basic 

facts about the intellectual property rights in Slovenia as well as the applicable rules. 

In order to fully understand the legal framework and the practice in the field of intellectual property 

rights protection in Slovenia, one should take stratification of the legal system in consideration. The 

Republic of Slovenia is bound, in all areas of law (and hence also the intellectual property law), by the 

ratified international treaties, primary and secondary legislation of the European Union as well as national 

legislation. 

On the national level, industrial property rights are regulated by the Law on Industrial Property. It has 

some characteristics of the intellectual property rights system established in the Socialist Federal Republic 

of Yugoslavia (a part of which the Republic of Slovenia was up to 1991), but it also developed its 

own features, comprising the international general standards of protection as set out in the Paris Convention 

for the Protection of Industrial Property, Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual 

Property Rights (TRIPS), Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, etc. and 

is also harmonised with the EU acquis communitaire. 

Copyright and related rights 

Copyright and related rights are regulated by the Law on Copyright and Related Rights. The national 

legislation is based on several international treaties, the most relevant of which are: 

 

 

 

 

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 

Universal Copyright Convention 

World Intellectual Property Organisation Copyright Treaty 

World Intellectual Property Organisation Performances and Phonograms Treaty 

Within the EU legislation, the importance of the Directive 2004/48/EC on the Enforcement of Intellectual 

Property Rights should be emphasized, whereby several other directives (regarding legal protection 

of computer programs; rental right and lending right and certain rights related to copyright in the field 

of intellectual property; satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission; harmonisation of certain aspects 

of copyright and related rights in the information society, etc.) are also applicable. 

According to the national Law, copyright is indivisible from the work, from which exclusive personal 

powers (moral rights), exclusive economic powers (economic rights), and other powers of the author 

(other rights of the author) emanate. Moral rights are bound to the author’s individuality and cannot be 

transferred. Unlike moral rights, economic rights can be contractually transferred, whereby the time and 

territorial limitation as well as limitations with regard to the mean of the publication and the purpose of 

its use can be agreed upon.

Apart from protection of classic works, the national Law also provides protection for computer programmes 

and databases. New economic rights (e.g. rental, lending, distribution and importation, satellite 

broadcasting and cable retransmission), related rights and their collective administration are also 

regulated by the Law. 

As copyright belongs to the author by the mere fact of creation of the work its registration does not have 

a constitutive effect. However, for the purpose of proving the authorship, it is strongly recommended 

for an application to nonetheless be filed with the Copyright Agency of Slovenia, which deposits the 

works and issues corresponding certificates. 

In cases of copyright infringement the authors can protect their rights by initiating court proceedings for 

prohibition of future infringements, whereby they can also be awarded compensation for the damage, 

punitive damage and monetary compensation for non-material damage. 

There are several associations for collective management and enforcement of copyright and related 

rights in Slovenia, some of which are: SAZAS (asserting rights of composers, authors and publishers 

in the music field), ZAMP (asserting rights authors in the field of literature, science, journalism and its 

translations), IPF (asserting rights of performers and producers of phonograms). 

Patents & supplementary patent certificates 

Patents 

Apart from the above-mentioned general standards of protection and the Law on Industrial Property, 

patents are regulated, inter alia, by the following international treaties: 

 

 

 

 

Patent Cooperation Treaty 

Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for the Purposes 

of Patent Procedure 

Patent Law Treaty 

European Patent Convention 

On the EU level several directives (regarding biotechnological inventions; medicinal products; plant protection 

products; compulsory licensing of patents relating to manufacture of pharmaceutical products 

for export to countries with public health problems, etc.) are also applicable in addition to the already 

mentioned Directive 2004/48/EC on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. 

According to Slovenian Law on Industrial Property, patents are granted for any invention, in all fields 

of technology, which is new, involve an inventive step and is applicable in the industry. Patent protection 

cannot be obtained for discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, and other rules, 

schemes, methods and processes for performing mental acts as such, whereby protection can be denied 

only for inventions the exploitation of which would be contrary to public order or morality or for 

inventions of surgical or diagnostic methods or methods of treatment practised directly on the living 

human or animal body. 

Patent application is filed with the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office and is examined only as to 

formal requirements. Patents are granted without a substantive (novelty) examination 18 months following 

the application filing date or the date of the claimed priority. The protection conferred by the 

Slovenian patent is limited to 20 years following the date of filing the application. 

Written evidence proving that the patented invention fulfils all the substantive criteria, i.e. novelty, inventive 

step and industrial applicability should be submitted prior to the end of the ninth year of its 

validity. This can preferably be either Slovenian translation of one or more European patents granted 

for the same invention by the EPO or, if no application for European patent has been filed for the same 

invention, Slovenian translation of the patent for the same invention, granted following substantive examination 

by another authority which, under Article 32 of the PCT enjoys the status of the International 

63 


64 

Preliminary Examining Authority, or by any other patent office with which the relevant treaty has been 

concluded. The validity of the patent irrevocably lapses after the tenth year, if no such written evidence 

is submitted in due time. 

The Law establishes a specific type of protection, i.e. short-term patent, the elements of which correspond 

to the utility model protection as known for example in Germany as well as in some other 

countries. With the exception of processes, a short-term patent may be granted for inventions which 

are new, industrially applicable and are the result of a creative effort. The maximum term of validity of a 

short-term patent is ten years following the date of filing the application. 

Applications for international patents can be filed under one of two international agreements which Slovenia 

is a party to, namely under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or the European Patent Convention. 


Supplementary patent certificates 

Upon Slovenia’s accession to the European Union, the Council Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92 as of 18 

June 1992 concerning creation of a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products and 

Regulation (EC) No 1610/96 of the European Parliament and the Council as of 23 July 1996 concerning 

creation of a supplementary protection certificate for plant protection products, with all subsequent 

amendments, are directly applicable in the field of supplementary protection certificates. For the purpose 

of implementing those Regulations a Decree implementing Council Regulations concerning creation 

of a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products and for plant protection products 

was adopted. 

Supplementary protection certificates can be granted after the expiry of a patent for the invention, provided 

that the subject-matter of the patent is a product, a process to obtain the product or an application 

of the product, for which an official authorization is needed prior to commercial exploitation. 

The term »product« in the definition means an active ingredient or combination of active ingredients of 

a medicinal product or plant protection product. 

Supplementary protection certificate takes effect immediately after the expiry of the basic patent for a 

period equal to the period which elapsed between the date on which the application for the basic patent 

was filed and the date of the first authorization to place the product on the market in the Community, 

reduced by the period of five years. However, the duration of the certificate may not exceed five years 

from the date on which it takes effect, whereby the period may be extended once for a period of six 

months under certain conditions. 

Industrial designs 

In addition to the Law on Industrial Property and the above-mentioned general standards of protection, 

designs are regulated by the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs 

on the international and on the EU level by the Directive 98/71/EC on the legal protection of designs. 

Pursuant to the Slovenian Law on Industrial Property, industrial design means the outward appearance of 

the whole or a part of a product, resulting from the features (in particular, lines, contours, colours, shape,

texture and/or materials) of the product itself and/or its ornamentation - a product in the definition 

being any industrial or handy craft item, including parts intended to be assembled into a complex item, 

packaging, get-up, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, excluding however computer programs. 

The application filed with the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office is examined with regard to formal requirements, 

which is followed by an examination as to whether the design to which the application relates, 

may be protected under the Law. Ex officio examination as to earlier rights (novelty, individual character) 

and disclosure of the design is not conducted by the Office. If the design meets all the requirements, the 

Office issues a decision on registration of the industrial design and publishes it in the Official Journal. The 

applicant may request that the publication of the design be deferred for a period not exceeding 12 months 

following the date of filing the application or, if priority is claimed, from the date of priority. 

The application for registration of an industrial design in Slovenia can also be filed with WIPO under 

the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs (Act 1960, Act 1999), 

which Slovenia is a party to. The industrial design, which is the subject of an international deposit, is subjected 

to the same substantive procedure examination as if it had been filed nationally, and once granted 

it enjoys the same protection as is generally conferred on industrial designs by the Slovenian Law - hence 

it is equivalent in terms of its scope of protection and enforcement. 

Design protection on the territory of the EU can be sought through the registered Community design 

(RCD) application filed with OHIM. Besides, a design on the EU territory can be protected also as an 

unregistered Community design (UCD). The scope of protection for the two is the same – both have a 

unitary character throughout the European Union and share the requirements for protection, such as 

novelty and individual character. An RCD is first registered for a period of five years following the filing 

date, however it can be renewed for additional five years period up to a maximum of twenty-five years. 

UCD is defined by the respective regulation in the same way as the RCD, however the UCD is protected 

for a period of three years from the date on which the design was first made available to the public 

within the territory of the Community. RCDs and UCDs have to meet the same requirements in order to 

be protected, however, unlike RCD, the application for protection of UCD does not have to be filed. This 

may in practice cause UCD holders to encounter serious problems proving their design is protected. 

The applications for invalidity of the Community design may be filed with OHIM, whereas judicial protection 

has to be sought with the competent courts for the community rights in the member states. 

On the national level, actions for declaration of nullity of an industrial design, contesting the right to 

such industrial design as well as actions for recognition of the right to be named, may be filed with the 

court. It is also possible to take legal action against any person using a registered industrial design without 

the owner’s consent, and to claim damages in relation thereto. 

Trademarks 

Apart from the previously mentioned general standards of protection and the Slovenian Law on Industrial 

Property, trademarks are regulated inter alia by the following international treaties: 

 

 

 

Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks 

Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks 

Trademark Law Treaty 

Community trademarks are governed by the First Council Directive 89/104/EEC as of 21 December 

1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks and Council Regulation (EC) 

on the Community trade mark No 40/94 as of 20 December 1993 as well as by other (implementing) 

directives and regulations . 

According to the national Law, any sign, or any combination of signs, capable of distinguishing the goods 

or services of one undertaking from those of another undertaking and capable of being graphically represented, 

in particular words, including personal names, letters, numbers, figurative elements, three dimensional 

images, including the shape of goods or of their packaging, combination of colours as well 

65 


66 

as any combination of such signs can be protected as trademarks. Collective and sound marks can be 

protected under certain procedural conditions. 

The application as filed with Slovenian Intellectual Property Office is first examined as to formal requirements, 

which is followed by the examination of absolute grounds for refusal, however the Office does 

not perform an ex officio examination as to earlier rights (relative grounds for refusal). 

If the application meets the requirements and no absolute grounds for refusal exist, the application is 

published in the Official Journal, allowing owners of previous rights to oppose to the registration within 

a period of three months from the date of publication. If no opposition is filed the trademark can proceed 

to registration and once registered it is valid for ten years from the date of the application and can 

be renewed every subsequent ten years. 

Registering a trademark with the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office protects one’s rights in Slovenia 

only; however, based on it an application can be filed for its international registration pursuant to the 

Madrid Agreement or Madrid Protocol. 

Another way of protecting a trademark on the territory of the Republic of Slovenia is by filing an application 

for a Community trademark with OHIM, which is valid for the territory of the whole EU (hence also 

Slovenia) due to its unitary character. Some proceedings in relation to the CTM (opposition, cancellation 

proceedings) are conducted by OHIM, whereas judicial proceedings need to be initiated with the competent 

courts for the community rights in the member states. 

On the national level Intellectual Property Office’s decisions can be challenged with the administrative 

court. Other trademark disputes (with regard to their validity as well as infringement suits) have to be 

initiated with the competent court. 


Geographical indications 

Geographical indications are regulated by the Law on Industrial Property as well as the Wine Act and the 

Agriculture Act. The latter two fall within the competence of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food. 

Within the EU Council Regulations related to wine, spirit drinks, agricultural products and foodstuffs apply. 

Geographical indications, eligible for registration under the Slovenian Law on Industrial Property are 

indications which identify the good as originating from a territory, or a region or a locality in that territory, 

where the given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to 

its geographical origin. 

The name of the good, which has become generally known through a long-term use in the course of 

trade as the name indicating that the good originates from a specific place or region, can also be registered 

as a geographical indication. 

Geographical indications for agricultural products and food as well as for wines and other products obtained 

from grapes or wine are eligible for registration under the Agriculture Act and Wine Act. 

A registered geographical indication is a collective right and may be used as such in the course of trade 

only by those who produce or market the goods protected by the geographical indication. 

It is not possible to register a geographical indication if: 

 

 

 

 

it indicates or suggests that the respective good originates from a geographical area other than the 

true place of origin in a manner which misleads the public as to the geographical origin of the good; 

although literally true as to the territory, region or locality from which the good originates, it falsely 

represents to the public that the good originates from another territory; 

it has become generally known through a long-term use in the course of trade as a indication for a 

specific kind of goods; 

in the light of a mark’s reputation and the length of the period in which it has been used, the registration 

may mislead the consumer as to the true identity of the product. 

The term of a registered geographical indication is unlimited.

Plant variety rights 

Plant variety rights are on the national level regulated by the Law on Protection of New Varieties of 

Plants, which falls within the competence of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food. On the international 

level International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants is applied, and on 

the EU level it is the EU Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 on Community plant variety rights. 


Protection of topographies of semiconductor products is granted pursuant to the Law on Protection of 

Topographies of Integrated Circuits, whereby the Council Directive 87/54/EEC on the legal protection of 

topographies of semiconductor products is also applied. 

According to the respective Law, topographies of integrated circuits are invariably fixed series of related 

images for each layer of the integrated circuit, representing the disposition of semi-conducting elements 

on layers, however fixed or encoded or otherwise expressed. 

The procedure for registering the topographies is conducted by the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office 

and if the application fulfils all the conditions, it is entered in the register of topographies, published 

in the Official Journal and the applicant is issued a certificate. 

As to the validity - the exclusive rights come to an end ten years after the expiration of the earlier of the 

following dates: the end of the calendar year in which the topography was first commercially exploited 

anywhere in the world, or the end of the calendar year in which the application was filed in due form. 

However, if the topography has not been commercially exploited, the exclusive rights expire after fifteen 

years following its fixation or encoding. 

Other aspects 

Representation 

Foreign natural and legal persons having neither residence nor real and effective industrial or commercial 

establishment in Slovenia need to have a representative, whose name has been entered in the register 

of agents, to act on their behalf before the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office. 

Slovenian representatives can act as representatives before EPO if they are acknowledged by EPO as 

European Patent Attorneys. Similar applies also to representation before OHIM. Representation with 

OHIM is obligatory for applicants not having domicile, principal place of business or a real and effective 

industrial or commercial establishment in the Community. 

EU enlargement 

From 1 May 2004, the date of accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, 

Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, and from 1 January 2007, the date of accession of Bulgaria 

and Romania, pursuant to the Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 as of 20 December 1993 on the Community 

trade mark, Community trade marks registered or applied for before the date of accession have 

been extended to the territory of those Member States in order to have equal effects throughout the 

Community. 

Recording a licence 

On the national level Slovenian Code of Obligations regulates licence agreements, which have to be 

concluded in writing. Entry of a licence into the registry with Slovenian Intellectual Property Office is not 

obligatory, although it is recommended. The entry is also necessary in cases where „erga omnes“ effect 

is sought. Licence can be granted for all industrial property rights, excluding collective trademark and 

geographical indications due to their nature. 

67 



Slovenian Intellectual 

Property Office -SIPO 

Kotnikova 6 

SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Tel: +386 1 478 31 00 

Fax: +386 1 478 31 10 

Email: sipo@uil-sipo.si 

www.uil-sipo.si 

Government 

Communication Office 

Gregorčičeva 25 

1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Tel: +386 1 478 26 30 

Fax:+386 1 251 23 12 

Email: anze.logar@gov.si 

Chamber of Commerce 

and Industry of Slovenia 

Dimičeva 13 


Tel: +386 1 5898 000, 

Fax: +386 1 5898 100, 

Email: info@gzs.si 

www.gzs.si 

Customs Administration 

of the Republic of Slovenia 

General Customs Directorate 

Šmartinska 55 


Tel: +386 1 478 3800 

Fax: +386 1 478 3900 

Email: carina@gov.si 

Ministry of the Economy 

Kotnikova 5 


Tel: (01) 400 33 11 

Fax: (01) 433 1031 

gp.mg@gov.si 

Statistical Office 

of the Republic of Slovenia 

Vožarski pot 12 

SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Tel: +386 1 241 51 04 

Fax: +386 1 241 53 44 

Email: info.stat@gov.si 

68 


A “boutique” Law and Patent Office Nina Drnovšek takes pride in offering a more personal and individual 

approach to each and every client. With Nina Drnovšek being a European trademark agent and patent 

attorney, the office’s leading activities are intellectual property and copyright law, however, having 

an understanding of the clients’ business as a whole, the office offers also services related to other supportive 

fields of law. Of outmost importance is providing the highest quality advice and legal services to 

the clients in a professional excellence, convenient, high-efficiency and cost-effective setting. 

Servicing national companies abroad, as well as foreign clients active in various spheres of activities 

in Slovenia, all employees communicate in English, while the office also operates in German, French, 

Croatian and Serbian language. Realizing the importance of co-operation and networking, attorney 

Nina Drnovšek is a member of several domestic and international organizations.

KN Intellectual Property Team 

Mr. Dragomir Kojic is a partner in charge of 

Intellectual Property matters at Karanovic & 

Nikolic Law Office. He was a member of the team 

in many of the IP related matters transactions 

providing a full range of industrial property and 

copyright and related rights services including 

services in so-called “Related issues” (Pharmacy, 

Labeling, Export-Import Regime, Advertising) in 

Serbia, Montenegro and Republika Srpska – 

Bosnia & Herzegovina. 

Ms. Sanja Stevsic is a senior associate at 

Karanovic & Nikolic Intellectual Property 

department. She advises clients on all 

aspects of intellectual property law and she 

was a member of the team in many of the 

intellectual property issues in Serbia and 

Montenegro. Ms. Stevsic's areas of expertise 

are especially pharmaceutical law, data 

protection law, advertising law, consumer 

protection law (so-called “related right”) 

Ms. Milica Arandjelovic is an 

associate at Karanovic & Nikolic 

Intellectual Property department. 

She advises clients on all aspects 

of intellectual property matters. 

Ms. Arandjelovic was a member of 

the team in many of the transactions 

in Serbia and Montenegro. 

CIP - cataloging and publishing National Library of Serbia, Belgrade 

<strong>Focus</strong> on: ISSN 1820-5399 

<strong>Focus</strong> on: Editors Patricia Gannon, Dragomir Kojic - 2008 - Belgrade (Lepenicka 7), “Karanovic & Nikolic” Law Office, 

2008 - Belgrade: Vizartis - 30 cm/year - ISSN 1820-5399 = focus on COBISS.SR-ID 143309580.

Karanović & Nikolić Law Office 

Lepenička 7 


Tel. +381 11 3094 200 

Fax. +381 11 3094 223 

info@karanovic-nikolic.co.yu 


Gundulićeva 4, 78000 Banja Luka 

Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Tel. +387 51 303 100 

Fax. +387 51 304 999 



Serdar Jola Piletića 

81000 Podgorica, Montenegro 

Tel. +382 81 238 994 

Fax. +382 81 238 984 


www.karanovic-nikolic.co.yu

Focus on Intellectual Property, 2008 - Karanovic & Nikolic

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