Fewer National Applications, More Patent Validations in Hungary in 2018

The Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) recently published its annual report for 2018, which shows a decline in national patent applications, an increase in patent validations, a stable number of national trademark and utility model applications, and a small decline in national design applications.

Namely, there was a 9% increase in the number of valid patents (from 26,225 in 2017 to 28,677 in 2018). 91% of those were validated European patents, whose number increased by 13% (from 23,041 in 2017 to 26,092 in 2018), while the number of national patents decreased by 19% (from 3,184 in 2017 to 2,585 in 2018). A similar trend was recently observed in Slovenia.

The number of valid national trademarks remained stable (54,787 in 2018), while the number of international trademarks (under the Madrid System) in Hungary exceeded 87,000. The number of European Union trademarks valid in 28 EU countries exceeded 1 million.

The number of valid national utility models also remained stable at 847, while the number of registered designs decreased by 5% to 3,558. The number of valid Community designs was approximately 750,000 at the end of 2018.

HIPO received 979 requests for registration in the voluntary register of works and other subject matter covered by the Copyright Act. 13% of these requests were filed electronically, an option introduced in 2018.

Prepared by: Erika Farkas

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

Source: HIPO website