At-a-glance:
Österreichisches Patentamt
Dresdner Straße 87, 1200 Wien, PO Box: 95, Austria
Tel: +43 (1) 53424 77
Fax: +43 (1) 53424 78
Austrian law firms saw an increase in patent litigation as part of a general rise in intellectual property w...
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At-a-glance:
Österreichisches Patentamt
Dresdner Straße 87, 1200 Wien, PO Box: 95, Austria
Tel: +43 (1) 53424 77
Fax: +43 (1) 53424 78
Austrian law firms saw an increase in patent litigation as part of a general rise in intellectual property work in 2010. More companies from Western Europe and the US entered the market, providing work in trade marks, copyrights and patents. Constantin Kletzer, a partner at Fiebinger Polak Leon & Partners says: "We're talking about big companies here that have been launched on the market, leading to several pieces of litigation."
There was a change in the rules for filing oppositions to trade marks last year, reducing the time within which they have to be filed to three months. One local partner says: "This will be cheaper for clients in the long run, but will be cheaper for the opposition as well, saving money on costs."
The Austrian Parliament also decided against joining the London Agreement following economic analysis suggesting that the country would lose revenue in patent translations. Rainer Beetz, managing partner at Sonn & Partner, comments: "Perhaps when the economic situation is better they will revaluate this. But at the moment it is seen as good income for the country."
Although litigation was up, the number of validations in Austria went down as the jurisdiction lost translation business to German firms, some of whom undercut Austrian firms with cheaper pricing.
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