Patent

The patent ensures legal protection of inventions by granting a better position to the owner of invention compared with that of rivals in the market of products and technology.

The owner of invention has an exclusive right to exploit the solution of invention, but the period and the territorial validity of patent protection are not unlimited. The patent protection is valid up to 20 years started from the day on that the patent application was filed and solely in the countries where the protection was granted.

Hungarian patent may be obtained by national or European application or by an application submitted in the framework of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provided that the application and the invention comply with requirements set out in laws and regulations.

In foreign countries patent may be obtained by application filed with the national offices or, beyond that, by an European application for the Member States of the European Patent Convention (EPC). The application may be filed directly or in the framework of Patent Cooperation Treaty.

The patent will be issued as result of the granting procedure before the competent authority.

Other proceedings in connection with patent protection fall also under the competence of Hungarian Patent Office

The Board of Experts on Industrial Property operating at the Hungarian Patent Office gives opinions on the debated legal issues arisen within Hungary in connection with the industrial property, by mandate or upon request of court.

In the absence of a provision of an international treaty to the contrary, foreign applicants shall be represented by an authorised patent attorney or an attorney-at-law in all patent matters within the competence of the Hungarian Patent Office.

Foreign applications are supported by a Financial Support System.

The possibility of searching published patent documents is open to everybody. By searching such documents substantial information helping the technical development may be gained.