Montenegrin IPO Loses Autonomy to Newly Founded Directorate for Internal Market and Competition

On December 13, 2018, the Montenegrin Government adopted the Regulation on Organization and Manner of Work of the State Administration, which placed all the duties of the local Intellectual Property Office (IPO) under the authority of the Ministry of Economy.

Following the adoption of this regulation, the Ministry of Economy proposed a rulebook on its own internal organization and systematization, which was adopted by the Government. The rulebook provided for the creation of the Directorate for Internal Market and Competition, divided into two departments – the Office for Normative Affairs and International Cooperation in the Field of Intellectual Property and the Office for Intellectual Property.

The prescribed transition period was 90 days starting from January 1, 2019, but the work is still not fully completed as the former IPO employees are yet to be formally assigned to new positions.

This organizational change caused slight delays in the issuance of documents by the former IPO, particularly availability search results. The change is also delaying decisions in opposition and provisional refusal matters, which are already delayed due to a shortage of examiners.

It remains to be seen when the transition will be fully completed, and if the change will have a positive impact and reduce the time needed to process filings.

By: Jasna Jusić

For more information, please contact Jasna Jusić at our Montenegro office.