What’s new in industrial property law?

As we read on the website of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, the Act aims to eliminate errors in the scope:

1. implementation of Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights.
2. adaptations to the Convention on the Grant of European Patents, done at Munich on 5 October 1973, and to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, done at Washington on 19 June 1970.

From the point of view of industrial property protection practice, the following changes will be introduced:

1. Small and medium entrepreneurs will be able to apply for exemption from periodical fees for the first period of protection of industrial designs and trade marks within the first 3 years from the commencement of their business activity.

2. In addition to patent attorneys, attorneys at law and legal advisers will be able to act as representatives in industrial design and geographical indications cases.

3. Improvement of proceedings before the Patent Office, including acceleration of litigation proceedings and shortening the waiting time for issuing documents confirming the granting of exclusive rights, introduction of a fast path of the procedure and shortening it to less than 1 month.

4. Introduction of the so-called international search, i. e. ensuring that an applicant for an invention can obtain more detailed information on the "state of the art”; already at the stage of filing an application for an invention. This will enable the applicant to find out more quickly what the current state of the art in the area of interest is and to decide whether to apply for international protection of an invention.

5. Organizing the opposition examination system in the Patent Office in relation to final decisions of the Office concerning: granting a patent, utility model or registration right and introducing changes aimed at streamlining and accelerating the disputed proceedings.

6. The Act will also introduce institutional changes, first of all, it will grant the minister in charge of economy the instruments of supervision over the Patent Office, and it will also introduce the term of office of the President of the PPO.

7. The amendments will also include provisions regulating civil law claims, i. e. securing evidence of infringement of industrial property rights and the so-called information claims in a manner ensuring proper protection of the entitled persons, while taking into account the rights of third parties who are not the infringers of industrial property rights.

The aim of the amendment is undoubtedly to make the procedure for protecting industrial property more flexible and universal, which deserves our approval. We will see if the proposed changes will be accepted in practice.

The Act shall enter into force 3 months after the date of its publication.