On 22 April 2022 the draft amendment of the Industrial Property Law was submitted to the public consultation. Current Act of 30 June 2000 – Industrial Property Law was amended above 20 times.
Over these years, there have been major changes in the national and global economy, in particular the last time of the outbreak caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, highlighted the need to pay particular attention to innovation and to propose an efficient system for their protection. Digitalisation and electronicisation processes in the economy are also of great importance and the project proposes solutions to address these phenomena.
In accordance with the proposed provision, if completed during the period 3 months, notifications at least third the various industrial property items, the registration fee for each of them is reduced by 30%.
New industrial property protection institutions
The amendment envisages the introduction of new institutions such as:
- initial declaration of invention,
- a deposit of technical and technological information constituting the business secret,
- the so-called IP COMBO, allowing the notifier to reduce the fees when reporting various industrial property items.
The aim of the proposed solutions is to encourage entrepreneurs to think about innovation as a business project using synergies of rights. The project also introduces a conciliation procedure allowing both parties to reach a satisfactory position in the disputed cases. This is a simplified form for reaching an agreement in a shorter time and without excessive costs.
Preliminary declaration of invention
The project introduces a new institution, i.e. the initial declaration of the invention. The introduced regulation creates the possibility to reserve the date of priority of the declaration of invention after making a specific simplified notification without risk of losing the novelty of the notified solution.
The initial filing of the invention will include: an application, a description of the invention revealing its essence and drawings, if they are necessary to understand the invention, but will not include patent reservations, which are in principle the most difficult element, in the still applicable procedure for reporting the invention.
The essence of the solution is the possibility of recognising the declaration of invention as having been made on the date of the initial declaration of invention.
This will be the case if within the time limit 12 months from the date on which the initial declaration of the invention is made, the applicant shall make a ‘full’ declaration of the invention to the Patent Office, otherwise the initial declaration shall expire.
IP COMBO – the more the cheaper
The project also introduces a new solution called the COMBO IP. In accordance with the proposed provision, if completed during the period 3 months, notifications at least third the various industrial property items, the registration fee for each of them is reduced by 30%.
The reduction of the fee shall be made at the request of the applicant within a period open to the payment of the fee for the last application. The use of the proposed reduction will not be permitted if the applicant is exempted from the application fee. The proposal is based on the promotion of operators making diversified notifications.
Therefore, it will be possible to benefit from the proposed relief if e.g. one reporting of the invention, one the utility model and one the trade mark. However, the notification third different trademarks, or two inventions and one the utility model, will not entitle to a discount.
Author: Bartosz Nawrot, legal consultant, associated with Russell Bedford Poland law firm from 2018.