Amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 51/2023, published on 19 May 2023:
- Patent Treaties - Introductory Act
- Patent Act 1970
- Utility Model Act
- Trade Mark Act 1970
- Designs Act 1990
- Patent Office Fees Act
- The amendment of the Patent Treaties-Introductory Act is related to the "European patent with unitary effect", which has been possible since 1 June 2023. A new chapter, §§ 14a to 14f, regulates:
- as soon as there is an EP with unitary effect (unitary patent for short), the effects of a European (bundle) patent in Austria no longer apply from the beginning (Sec. 14a);
- if a request for unitary effect is rejected, the three-month period for submitting a translation, if any, of a European (bundle) patent begins on the date on which this decision becomes final (Sec. 14b);
- a unitary patent shall be treated as an Austrian patent with regard to supplementary protection certificates (Sec. 14c);
- a unitary patent shall be treated as an Austrian patent with regard to compulsory licences (Sections 36, 37, 38 Patent Act) (Sec. 14d);
- the Austrian Patent Office shall not be competent for a surrender of a unitary patent (Sec. 14e);
- decisions of the Unified Patent Court are enforceable in Austria (Sec. 14f).
- as soon as there is an EP with unitary effect (unitary patent for short), the effects of a European (bundle) patent in Austria no longer apply from the beginning (Sec. 14a);
- The amendments to the Patent Act mainly concern:
- Clarification that not only plant varieties or animal species but also their parts are excluded from patenting (Sec. 2 (2)).
- Clarification that a patent relating to plants or animals does not extend to similar plants or animals that were produced independently of the patent (Sec. 22 (1a) and (1b)).
- In the case of an invention involving a genetic resource (i.e. plant or animal biological material containing hereditary information), information on the geographical place of origin or the source of supply of this resource must be provided separately in the course of the patent application. If the invention is based on traditional knowledge concerning the genetic resource, the source of this knowledge must be disclosed. Upon grant of the patent the Patent Office shall inform the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (Sec. 89 (3)).
- Searches and expert opinions may henceforth only be requested in respect of a date not more than one year prior to the filing of the application. (§ 111a).
- Clarification that not only plant varieties or animal species but also their parts are excluded from patenting (Sec. 2 (2)).
- The amendments to the Utility Model Act primarily concern the abolition of duplicates in the course of applications.
- The most important amendment to the Trade Mark Act is the abolition of the possibility to request a similarity search in the course of a trade mark application (previously Section 21), which has hardly been used in recent years.
- Analogous to the Patent Act and the Trade Mark Act the possibility of excluding parts of the file containing business and trade secrets from inspection by third parties was included in the Design Act.
- Into the Patent Office Fees Act mainly a provision on the payment period of renewal fees was introduced for the case that a request for unitary effect of a European patent is rejected with final effect, i.e. that an Austrian part of a European (bundle) patent remains.
