The long road to success
Claudia Hutina
Romania
Romania was one of the first countries in Europe to adopt a legislative framework for IP. Claudia Hutina of Drakopoulos Law Firm examines the country’s development towards a successful IP protection system
Romania's first IP law dates back to 1879 during the age of King Carol the First and was called the Law on factory marks and trade marks. This Law recognised the right to a trade mark of the trader or industrialist who had registered the trade mark with the commercial court. The same law guaranteed a right of exclusive priority for a term of 15 years to the trade mark holder, together with the possibility to extend the term after it lapsed. In order to protect the trade mark holder, this Law provided for punishment for the counterfeiting and imitation of trade marks and the marketing of counterfeit products. Punishment was criminal or civil, but the Law could also ban those traders who breached legal provisions from taking part in the elections for the chambers of commerce for a certain period of time, or could enforce the display of the decision in certain places established by the court.
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Patent contentious
Patent prosecution
Trade mark / Copyright contentious
Trade mark prosecution