Improving the Investment Climate in Croatia • Evening for Safe Steps ...

News&ViewsAfter significant decline in number of industrial property filingsin Croatia in 2009 in consequence of the global economic crisis,this year has shown some signs of recovery.TrademarksUntil December 1st 2010 there were 2152 trade mark applicationsfiled directly before the State Intellectual Property Office of theRepublic of Croatia (SIPO) this year. Further 5003 requests were madevia the Madrid system for the international trade marks registration,making a total of 7155 requests for trade mark registration in Croatiain 11 months of 2010. Compared with the number of trademark applicationsfiled in previous years, an increase in the number of applicationsfiled directly before the SIPO is evident in comparison to the year2009 when only 2063 applications were filed. However, the numberof trade mark applications filed through the national route still hasn’treached the numbers of the years before the economic crisis (2821the residents of Croatia and natural persons. Further 310 industrial designapplications were filed in 11 months of 2011 through the system ofinternational registration of industrial design established by the Hagueagreement. In 2009 there were 346 such international registrations designatedfor Croatia, which shows that the numbers in relation to theindustrial designs stayed pretty much the same during the year 2009and 2010, but still lower when compared with 2007 and 2008.PatentsIn 11 months of 2010 a total of 267 patent applications werefiled with the SIPO, out of which 16 are the international (PCT) applicationsthat entered the national phase of the procedure. In comparisonto the previous year, further slight decrease in the number of applicationscan be seen as in 2009 a total of 318 applications were filed.The share of the PCT applications that entered the national phase inCroatia in year 2009 was 52.reportCURRENT TRENDS IN INTELLECTUALPROPERTY FILINGS IN CROATIABy State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatiain the year 2008, for example). The share of non-resident applicantsin the number of trademark applications filed directly at the SIPO iscontinuously decreasing. By now more then 60% of all trademark applicationsfiled before the SIPO are made by Croatian residents. Thenumber of international registrations designating Croatia still showsa trend of decrease that started in 2009. While there were 7424 internationalregistration designating Croatia in 2008, only 6058 weremade in 2009 and 5003 in 11 months of 2010. The largest number ofinternational trade mark registrations designating Croatia is requiredby applicants from Germany and the applicants who base their internationalregistrations on the Community Trade Mark System. Internationaltrademark registrations from Croatia are also still decreasing- until December 2010 there where 108 international applications filedfor which the office of origin is Croatia in comparison with the year2009 where there were 213 of such applications.Industrial DesignsThere were 251 industrial design applications filed directly beforethe SIPO in 11 months of 2010. This number is similar to the year2009 when 271 industrial design applications were filed. Since the CroatianIndustrial Design Act allows multiple applications, the 251 industrialdesign applications actually comprise the requests for registrationof 698 industrial designs. The largest number of applicants still makeDeclining number of patent applications filed with the SIPOcan still be partly attributed to the fact that Croatia became a full memberof European Patent Organization rather recently (in 2008), andmost of the foreign applicants are now instead choosing to file theEuropean patent application in which Croatia is designated.The number of the international (PCT) applications from Croatiafiled at SIPO shows slight recovery - in 11 months of this year38 applications were filed, comparing to the 35 applications in year2009.As for the number of patents granted in Croatia, in 11 monthsof 2010 a total of 192 patents were granted in SIPO procedures, 115of them as consensual patents (without substantive examination). Inthe same period 396 European patents entered the SIPO patent register,thus making a total of 588 patents granted in Croatia. Comparingwith the year 2009, when a total of 268 patents were granted in SIPOprocedures and further 378 European patents entered the register,a decrease in number of patents granted in Croatia this year can benoticed.With the patents granted in 11 months of 2010, a total of 2510(2121 patents and 389 consensual patents) is currently in force in Croatia.By technical field, a majority of the patents in force are in the fieldof organic chemistry (IPC class C07) and in preparations for medical,dental, or toilet purposes (IPC class A61).18 ISSUE 4/2010