HUNGARIAN patent process

As usual, patents in Hungary enjoy protection for 20 years, and for obtaining a patent you need to file your application to the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) with a request for a grant. We, as a well-known and experienced Hungarian patent office, can help you with the Hungarian patent register from the beginning.

Filing

The application has to be filed in Hungarian. However, there is an additional 4-month long time period to file the translation after filing date. If the attachments of the application have been prepared in the English language, the patent description with the claims, the abstract and the drawings shall be filed in the Hungarian language within twelve months after the date of filing, or within sixteen months after the date of the earliest priority date, whichever expires earlier. The filing and search fee has to be paid in 2 months within filing.

Publication

After the expiry of 18 months from the earliest date of priority, HIPO publishes the patent application as an official notification in the Gazette of Patents and Trademarks. Regarding maintenance fees, Hungarian patent law is different, as annuity fee is due from the first year, even if the patent has not been granted yet. Applicants have to pay maintenance fee of 1st and 2nd year together, after publication. However, if the filing date is after 7th of August, 2021., the annuity fee is due only from the 4th year.

Examination

HIPO carries out a substantive examination of the published patent application at the request of the applicant. Substantive examination may be requested simultaneously with the filing of the patent application or within six months at the latest after the date of the official notification on the performance of the novelty search. The request for substantive examination is subject to the payment of a fee. HIPO invites the applicant by an order to rectify the irregularities, to submit a statement or to divide the application, according to the nature of the objection.

Granting

Before the grant of the patent, HIPO transmits to the applicant the text of the description, the claims and drawings forming the basis of the grant. The applicant may declare within three months if he approves the text transmitted. If the applicant approves it or fails to submit comments, the patent shall be granted on the basis of the transmitted description, claims and drawings.

If the patent application and the invention to which it relates meet all the requirements of the examination, HIPO shall grant a patent for the subject matter of the application. After the grant of the patent, HIPO issues a patent certificate to the patentee.

why patent in hungary?

Hungary is in the heart of Europe. Having joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, as the second biggest country of the enlargement, it has become the 9th biggest among member states. Here meets the West with the East, the North with the South. The country is not only geographically a meeting point, but also a centre of science and culture.
There is a good chance that one or two Hungarian inventions lie in the pocket of every one of us.

• A banknote,

• a ballpoint pen,

• a box of matches,

• or maybe some C-vitamins?

The hologram strip of the banknote is based on the invention of the Nobel prize winner D. Gabor, the inventor of the ballpoint pen is I. Biro, the safety matches were invented by J. Irinyi and A. Szent-Györgyi manufactured for the first time C-vitamins. To mention only a few among the most well-known Hungarian names. Hungary contributed to 20th century world history with a great generation of scientists. Many revolutionary ideas have burst out of Hungarian heads. The telephonograph is owing to T. Puskas, the helicopter to O. Asboth. J. Galamb as a chief designer constructed the legendary model-T of Ford Motor Company, while J. Neumann had significant innovations in connection with computers. Hungarian inventors are still active participants in the world of science also motoring the development of the country.
According to a recently published OECD research, Hungary bears more than a quarter of the gross production that comes from the so-called knowledge-based sectors of the economy (e.g.: pharmaceutical industry, chemical industry, engineering). With this Hungary is ranked in the noble seventh position on the list of the world’s most developed states (Financial Times 29/10/2001).

utility models in hungary

In Hungary, the law gives the opportunity to file the utility models as well. Utility model protection provides legal protection for the new technical solutions not reaching the level of a patentable invention (for example do not involve an inventive step). In Hungary, utility models enjoy protection for 10 years.

The main benefit of filing a utility model is that most countries having utility model do not conduct substantive examination and merely grant the utility model after checking that utility model applications comply with formalities.