ROMINVENT - Industrial Protection Agency

Romania has old traditions in this field and could be relevant in this respect that the Romanian Trademark Law was approved in 1879, respectively 127 years ago, Romania holding the 8th position in the world after France, Austria, Hungary, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and Belgium.

As regards patents, we can also discuss of traditions, bearing in mind that in 2000 we celebrated the 94th anniversary of the first Romanian Patent Law and also 94 years from the establishment of the Romanian Patent Office.

The same traditions can also be invoked in the copyright field. It is remarkable that the first Romanian Law inserting provisions regarding the copyright was the "Media Law" of 1862, respectively 144 years ago, law which stipulated for effective property rights for their creation to the writers, composers and other art creators. However, the first modern Copyright Law came into force in Romania in 1923.

From the beginning Romania was interested in keeping its legislation in line with the international legal framework that deals with the field of intellectual property. In this respect can be mentioned that Romania has joined the Paris Convention since 1920 and the Berne Convention since 1927.

However we cannot ignore that during 45 years - from 1944 to 1989 - the mechanisms of the internal market were put out of order and subjected to the political control of a centralized economic system. Romania was a closed market a long period, a situation which had a direct influence in the field of intellectual property, by diminishing its importance in the Romanian economy.

This unfortunate situation drastically changed after 1990, Romania pursuing a policy of economic reform and of opening up access to the outside world with the aim of developing a market economy.

An up-to-date presentation of the legal regulations which rule the protection and national law, international treaties and conventions to which Romania is part.

These changes have created appropriate conditions for protecting and encouraging private ownership, a concept unviable according to the provisions of the Romanian Constitution.

In full accordance with a principled approach to the concept of private ownership, the Romanian legislative bodies have paid special attention to intellectual property rights.

This is a field which is now governed by novel and up-to-date laws which are in full harmony with international legislation.

If we exclude the old trademark law still operational despite several obsolete terms, it appears that all other laws in force have been drafted since 1991. It should be printed out, in this respect that a revised version of the former trademark law has been submitted to the legislative bodies.

New Romanian I.P. Laws

As mentioned above, between 1991 and 1998 came into force the following new laws:

the Unfair Competition Law (no.11) on January 29, 1991;

the Patent Law (no.64), on January 21, 1992;

the Design and Industrial Models Law (no.129), on January 8, 1993;

the Integrated Circuits Topography Law (no.16) on June 9, 1995;

the Copyright and Related Rights Law (no.8), on June 14, 1996 and

the Law on the Trademarks and Geographical Indications (no. 84), 1998;

the Law of the Protection of the new Plant Varieties (no. 255), 1998

International I.P. Conventions and Treaties Romania being a part

In order to faster its relations on international co-operation in the field of intellectual property, Romania acceded to several international conventions, treaties or agreements. In addition to its accession to Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1920 and the Berne Convention on the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1927, as mentioned before, Romania acceded to the following:

the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Trademarks, in 1920;
the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1974;
the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) on the International Registration of Inventions, in 1978;
the Hague Agreement on the International Registration of Design, in 1992;
the Strasbourg Agreement on the International Classification of Inventions, in 1998;
the Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Products and Services for Registration of Trademarks, in 1998;
the Vienna Agreement on the International Classification of Figurative Elements for Trademarks, in 1998;
the Locarno Agreement on the International Classification of Industrial Designs, in 1998;
the Protocol of the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Trademarks, in 1998;
the Trademark Law Treaty, in 1998;
the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of Microorganism Deposits, in 1999.

Further, Romania signed and ratified several bi- and multilateral agreements in the economic and commercial field which also include provisions regarding the protection of intellectual property such as:

the final agreement on Uruguay Round of GATT, including TRIPS and the establishment of World Trade Organization (WTO);
the Free Trade Agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
the Association Agreement with the European Union (EU).

An important requirement of the 1993 Association Agreement with European Union was that Romania shall apply in 1998 to accede to European Patent Convention. In order to be prepared for the accession, in 1994 Romania signed a Cooperation Agreement with the European Patent Office which provides the possibility to extend the protection conferred by European patent to Romania too, agreement came in force on 15th of October 1996.