LIGJI NR. 2004/49 PËR PATENTIM

This provision is the preamble to the patent law and states that the Assembly of Kosovo adopts the law on patents.

This article defines “invention,” says which inventions are patentable, and states that patentable inventions are protected by patent under this Law.

An invention counts as novel only if it is not already part of prior knowledge; prior knowledge includes what has been made public worldwide before the patent filing date.

Disclosure of information about an invention in a patent application does not affect novelty in the listed cases.

An invention counts as novel if it would not be obvious to a skilled person in the relevant field from prior knowledge.

An invention is industrially applicable if its subject matter can be produced or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture, crafts, fishing, and services.

This article says certain inventions involving biological material can be patented, and defines biological material for this purpose.

This article excludes several subject matters from patenting, including discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, aesthetic creations, certain mental-act or business methods, computer programs, and presentations of information.

Inventions are not patentable if their commercial use would conflict with public order or public morality.

This article excludes several types of inventions from patent protection, including animal breeds, plant varieties, essentially biological processes, the human body and its elements, and diagnostic, surgical, and treatment processes applied directly to humans or animals.

The inventor has an inalienable right to be identified as the inventor in patent applications and related patent records, unless the inventor asks in a signed declaration delivered to the Office that their name not be mentioned.

The patent right belongs to the inventor or lawful heir, with special rules for joint inventions and employee or commissioned inventions.

For patent applications, the Office treats as the applicant the person who has the right to file the patent application.

The Patent Office is set up as an independent agency within the Government and may carry out the functions listed in this law and related implementing acts. The Government must issue bylaws and administrative instructions for implementation.

The Office runs the Patent Register, which records patent applications and recognized patents, must keep required updates in it, may not enter data before an application’s publication date, and must publish all notices in the Official Bulletin.

The Office’s administrative decisions cannot be appealed, but a lawsuit may be filed under the Law on General Administrative Procedure.

An applicant may ask the Office to accept the result of a patentability procedure from a selected foreign patent office, and must submit all relevant data and documents at the same time.

Zyra must issue a decision on the request mentioned in Article 16(1) within two months after the request is submitted.

An applicant must submit specified documents to the Office in connection with an application under Article 16.

Patenting and patent maintenance are subject to payment of an administrative tax and procedural expenses.

When two or more inventors independently made the same invention, the patent applicant with the earlier filing date has priority, if the application was published under Article 37.

Certain applicants may claim priority in Kosovo for an invention application if they file the later application within 12 months and ask the Office to recognize the priority right.

Patent applicants who want to use a priority right in Kosovo must file a request for recognition of that right with the Office and submit a certified copy of the first application within the stated deadlines.

A patent applicant may request recognition of multiple priority rights, subject to Article 22 and limits on which invention features can be relied on.

The patent procedure starts when the patent application is filed with the Office.

Patent applications must be drafted in the language used for official government documents; if drafted in a foreign language, they must be translated into the official language used in Kosovo and delivered to the Office.

Patent applications must be filed with the Office and include the required documents and fee.

Patent applications must describe the invention clearly and in enough detail, and if the invention involves living biological material that cannot be disclosed sufficiently, proof of deposit at an authorized institution must be submitted with the application.

Patent claims must be clear, concise, and fully supported by the invention description.

A patent application must concern only one invention, or several linked inventions that form a single inventive concept.

This article says a patent application’s filing date is the date the Office receives it, and it sets out what the application must include to be accepted.

Zyra shqyrton aplikimin për patentim dhe, nëse mungojnë kushtet ose dokumentet, i kërkon aplikuesit t’i plotësojë brenda dy muajsh.

Patent applications with an approved filing date are entered in the patent application register kept by the Office.

On the applicant’s request, the Office issues a certificate for the right of priority.

A patent application may be split into two or more applications, but the split application cannot go beyond the content of the original application.

The applicant may correct or complete the application up to the decision, may withdraw it during examination, cannot change it beyond the submitted content, and cannot claim a refund of payments made.

The Office checks whether a patent application meets listed requirements, can invite the applicant to fix deficiencies, may extend the correction deadline on a reasoned request, and must refuse the application in certain cases.

Rregullat për publikimin e aplikimit për patentim përcaktojnë kur publikohet, kur nuk publikohet dhe kur aplikuesi mund të kërkojë publikim të hershëm.

The applicant may submit a request for patent recognition to the Office within six months after the patent application is published in the Official Bulletin.

The Patent Office must provide copies of published patent applications and patent specifications on request, and may disclose certain application details before publication.

The patent owner must give the Office written proof within 10 years of filing that the patented invention meets the Act’s requirements. If the proof is missing, the patent and its application are treated as having had no effect from the start.

The patent owner has the right to exploit the protected invention, and others without the owner’s consent are forbidden from making, selling, using, importing, exporting, storing, or offering certain protected products or processes.

This article says patent-exclusive rights can also apply to certain biological material, directly obtained material, and genetic-information products, including material derived from them by propagation or multiplication with identical characteristics.

Kur publikohet aplikimi për patentim, aplikuesi fiton të drejta të përkohshme dhe mund të kërkojë kompensim të arsyeshëm nga çdo palë e tretë që e ka përdorur shpikjen gjatë periudhës së caktuar dhe në kundërshtim me nenet 41 dhe 42.

Patent exclusive rights are determined by the patent claims, and the description and drawings are used to interpret those claims.

Patent exploitation rights may be transferred by license contract, and a patent may be transferred wholly or partly.

The patent owner’s exclusive right to use the invention does not apply in three listed cases: private non-commercial use, research/development/experimentation (including some product registration or approval work), and direct individual preparation of medicine in pharmacies based on a personal prescription.

A qualifying prior user may continue using the invention without the patent owner’s consent, and that right may transfer or be inherited only with the relevant business/process and production facility.

This article limits patent exclusive rights for certain biological material and gives farmers specific authorised uses in agriculture.

Exclusive patent rights are treated as exhausted after the protected product is put on the domestic market by the patent owner or with their express consent, unless other legal grounds allow further commercialization to be stopped.

A product made from a protected invention is not treated as a patented invention in this situation if it is used for an aircraft or land vehicle from a Paris Union or WTO member state, the vehicle is only temporarily or incidentally in Kosovo, and the product is used only for that vehicle’s needs.

Patentimi skadon 20 vjet pas aplikimit, dhe pronari duhet të paguajë taksat dhe shpenzimet vjetore nga viti i tretë.

A patent may end for non-payment, surrender, or expiry on the owner’s death or loss of legal capacity; surrender is blocked if registered third-party rights exist unless those persons give written certified consent.

The patent owner may ask the Office to make certain changes to the patent, including limiting protection, correcting unintentional errors, and changing the owner’s name or address, but the changes cannot go beyond the original patent application.

Contracts transferring a patent application or patent must be in writing, and ownership changes affect third parties only after registration in the patent register.

Gjykata mund të japë licencë të detyrueshme për patentë në disa raste, përfshirë shfrytëzim të pamjaftueshëm, nevojë të jashtëzakonshme kombëtare, ose kundërshtim me konkurrencën e tregut.

Rregullohen kushtet për licencën e detyrueshme: ajo nuk mund të jetë ekskluzive, mund të kalohet vetëm me punëtorinë përkatëse, dhe në disa raste është e pakalueshme.

A patent may be declared invalid at any time if it was granted on one of the listed grounds.

The procedure for declaring a patent nullity starts when a proposal is submitted to the Office.

The Office must invite the proposer to fix defects, may reject the proposal if it is not fixed in time, and can require responses, comments, hearings, deadline extensions, and written proof in the patent invalidation procedure.

Në disa raste, Zyra mund të vazhdojë vetë procedurën për shpalljen e nulimit të patentimit.

Zyra may decide to annul a patent, in whole or in part, or to reject the proposal.

A decision recognizing a patent may be revoked before the patent term expires if the required biological material no longer exists, is no longer publicly available, or public access has been interrupted longer than allowed.

A proposal must be submitted to the Office to start the procedure for revoking the decision recognizing a patent.

The Office may issue a decision cancelling recognition of a patent or rejecting the proposal as unfounded.

Shpikësi ose pasardhësi i tij i ligjshëm mund të kërkojë në gjykatën kompetente që të caktohet e drejta mbi shpikjen e mbrojtur me patentë, kur aplikimi është dorëzuar nga një person i paautorizuar ose kur shpikja është e përbashkët dhe aplikuesi nuk është i vetmi bartës i kësaj të drejte.

The inventor or lawful successor may resume an interrupted patent procedure within 3 months after the court decision becomes final, or file a new application for the same invention and ask for the filing date and priority right if the date exists.

The inventor may sue to have the inventor’s name recorded in the patent application, patent documents, and office registers if someone else was listed as inventor.

The patent owner or exclusive license holder may file a lawsuit in the competent court against unauthorized acts that infringe the patent.

In a patent infringement case, the claimant may seek several remedies, and the patent applicant has a right to compensation for damage starting from publication of the patent application.

A defendant who produces a product or composition must prove it did not use the protected patented process; otherwise, identical substances or compositions are presumed to have been made by that process.

This article lets a claimant ask the court for temporary measures in a patent case, including stopping infringing activity, seizing/removing infringing products, and ordering disclosure of third-party involvement.

A patent-infringement lawsuit may be filed within 3 years of learning of the infringement and the infringer, but no later than 5 years after the infringement occurred.

Companies, individuals, and responsible company officers can be fined for certain patent-related infringement acts, and the tools used for the offence must be confiscated and destroyed if the court’s final decision is issued.

Violations mentioned in Article 73 must also face confiscation of products and main tools used in the infringing processing; the decision may also order destruction of the confiscated items.

The Office must restore the right if the applicant or patent owner missed an obligation despite due care and meets the stated conditions.

Certain people and companies outside Kosovo must use a patent representative in procedures before the Office; those based in Kosovo may use a non-patent representative, and any representative must be authorized under the Regulation.

Only registered natural persons may act as patent representatives, and anyone who meets the regulatory conditions may be registered.

If an applicant for patenting or a patent owner is represented by a patent representative under article 52, administrative or judicial notices must be sent to the representative’s address and are treated as received by the applicant or owner within the time set by the authority.

Fees for patent registration, maintenance, register notes, and other Office services are set by subordinate acts.

This article lets certain patent holders or applicants linked to the former Yugoslavia file recognition or patent applications in the Office within 12 months after the law takes effect.

The Minister of MTI issues special legal acts to implement the articles of this law.

This provision states when the law takes effect.