Draft of Bosnian Patent Law Up for Discussion

French consultancy firm Sofreco and officials of the EU CARDS project “Capacity Building in Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (EUIPR) hosted a public discussion on the draft of Bosnian Patent Law in Sarajevo on April 9, 2009.

The discussion gathered patent attorneys, legal experts, government officials, business people, and other interested parties.

The draft law introduces the category of non-examined patents, and clearly regulates additional protection certificates for patents. It also shortens the deadline for entering into the national phase of patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) from 34 to 31 months, from the international filing date.

Non-examined patents, which were previously called short-term patents, do not require substantive examination and are valid for ten years. As for additional protection certificates, they can be issued if products need to be certified by various government agencies.

The draft Patent Law incorporates all provisions of the TRIPS Agreement and relevant laws of the European Union. It was prepared as part of the EUIPR project through joint cooperation of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian experts.

Bosnia currently has only one law on IP rights, the Law on Industrial Property, which entered into force on August 27, 2002. In addition to the draft Patent Law, EUIPR will also prepare laws on trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications. Only after all four laws have been prepared, will they enter into parliamentary procedure.

For more information, please contact Alma Vilic in our Bosnia Office.