1. Dr. Jürgen Brandstätter Presentation for the Balkan Legal Forum Sofia, 15-17/09/2004 IP IN THE NEW/FUTURE MEMBER STATES WHAT THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SAYS www.bma-law.compage 1

2. Brief presentation of the main results of the Commission reports Possible discussion: What is true/false ? What progress has been achieved since the date of their publication (5/11/2003)? page 2 www.bma-law.com

3. New member states: Comprehensive monitoring reports (05/11/2003) Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey: Regular Reports on Progress towards Accession (05/11/2003) Croatia: Opinion on the application of Croatia for the membership of the EU (20/04/2004) page 3 www.bma-law.com Terminology

4. mention of transitional rules in relation to pharmaceutical product patents (Community exhaustion) and the CTM high levels of piracy in most of the new Member States enforcement of IP rights has to be strengthened page 4 www.bma-law.com Common results of the Monitoring reports:

5. meets its commitments only partially information society directive not transposed WIPO Internet treaties not ratified fight against piracy and counterfeiting appears to no longer have sufficient priority page 5 www.bma-law.com ESTONIA

6. meets the majority of the commitments acquis remaining to be transposed: information society directive, design, legal protection of biotechnological inventions page 6 www.bma-law.com LATVIA

7. legislation is close to full alignment adoption of principle of EC exhaustion of rights still pending preparations of EPO accession have to be completed page 7 www.bma-law.com LITHUANIA

8. legislation largely in line with the acquis (partially) remaining to be transposed: Community design, geographical indications, information society rules accession to European Patent Convention is pending page 8 www.bma-law.com POLAND

9. meets the majority of its commitments further alignment necessary regarding the information society directive Trademark Act remains to be adopted page 9 www.bma-law.com CZECH REPUBLIC

10. largely meets its commitments information society directive remains to be transposed page 10 www.bma-law.com SLOVAKIA

11. meets the majority of its commitments further alignment is needed with regard to information society directive and directive on broadcasting via satellite legislation on supplementary certificates for pharmaceuticals and plant protection products should be adopted length of court proceedings should be reduced page 11 www.bma-law.com HUNGARY

12. essentially meets its commitments minor adjustments necessary regarding information society and satellite broadcasting directive page 12 www.bma-law.com SLOVENIA

13. broadly aligned its legislation with the acquis remaining to be transposed/adopted: exceptions to the rights, exhaustion and revival of term, information society directive, provisions on inter-Member State retransmission via cable, biotechnological inventions, legal protections of designs accession to EPO pending page 13 www.bma-law.com MALTA

14. majority of commitments have been met full alignment necessary regarding exceptions to the rights, term of protection and exhaustion full transposition of information society directive must be completed page 14 www.bma-law.com CYPRUS

15. IP law largely in line with the acquis adoption of legislation regarding supplementary protection certificates for medical products, plant protection products and biotechnological inventions necessary high level of piracy gives rise to concerns, but IP enforcement is improving page 15 www.bma-law.com BULGARIA

16. important aspects of the acquis remain to be transposed examples: protection of databases including sui generis protection, artists resale rights, information society directive administrative capacity is insufficient to ensure effective enforcement of IP rights page 16 www.bma-law.com ROMANIA

17. no particular developments towards alignment with acquis since early 2002 further alignment necessary in nearly all IP fields high level of IP infringements and low number of court cases excessive delays in reaching a verdict page 17 www.bma-law.com TURKEY

18. Legislation broadly in line with the acquis Office for Intellectual Property seriously understaffed Growing backlog in the processing of patent applications due to complex and lengthy procedures page 18 www.bma-law.com CROATIA

19. http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enlarg ement/candidate.htm page 19 www.bma-law.com USEFUL LINK:

20. Thank you for your attention! page 20 www.bma-law.com