Slovenia Drafts Amendments to Industrial Property Act

The Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, in cooperation with the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office, prepared a draft Act amending the Industrial Property Act in order to transpose the provisions of the Directive (EU) 2015/2436 into national legislation.

The amendments relate to trademarks only and the most important include the following:

• The scope of absolute grounds for refusal has been expanded;
• Relative grounds have been supplemented, amended or defined in a more precise and clear manner;
• Non-use defense has been introduced in opposition proceedings and annulment and infringement actions.

The draft was available for public consultation from January 21 to February 20, 2019. The Association of the Slovenian Intellectual Property Attorneys provided the Ministry with comments and proposed amendments to the text. Once the Ministry prepares the final version of the proposed draft, it will enter the parliamentary procedure.

Prepared by: Barbara Mencin

For more information, please contact slovenia@petosevic.com.

Source: eUprava Slovenian public portal for citizens