Transitional (pipeline) protection is available in Romania starting from March 2,1998 according to the Romanian Ordinance No.25/1998, published on January 30,1998.

Beginning from May 20,1998 the Romanian Ordinance No.25/1998 has been abrogated and a corresponding Romanian Law No.93/1998, in the same matter was enacted and entered into force on May 20,1998.

The provisions provided for by this law are the same with those of the former Ordinance excepting the available period for filing the request which is now May 20, 1998 till November 20, 1998.

Romanian Law no.93/1998 published on May 20, 1998 provides with the conditions concerning the transitional protection of the patents for invention as follows:

The Romanian Parliament adopts the present law.

Art 1. - The Romanian State recognizes a transitional protection to the patent owners having priority earlier that the date of January 21,1991 in a state member of the Union from Paris for the industrial property protection or of the World Trade Organization for the inventions having as a subject-matter the substances obtained by nuclear, chemical methods, medicinal products, methods of diagnosis and medical treatment, disinfectants, food products and spices as well as the new plant varieties, bacteria and fungi strains, new breeds of animals and silkworms.

Art 2. - (1) The transitional protection is granted upon request

(2) The transitional protection starts on the date of filing the application with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks and ceases on the date of expiry of the validity of the patent for invention, of cancellation thereof, or on the date of lapse of patent owner's rights, without exceeding 20 years from the regular filing date in the country of origin.

Art.3 - The transitional protection is granted if the following conditions are fulfilled cumulatively:

a) the invention is the object of a patent in force in a state member of the Union from Paris or of the World Trade Organization, with a date of priority earlier than the date of January 21,1991;

b) the subject-matter of the invention was not patented in Romania and belongs to the categories provided for in Art.1;

c) the product which is the subject-matter of the patent for invention was not marketed in Romania prior to the date of December 31,1993;

d) the application for granting transitional protection was filed within six months from the date of coming into force of the present law.

Art.4 - (1) The application for granting transitional protection drawn up in Romanian is filled with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks through an authorized representative and it will contain :

a) express request for the transitional protection;
b) name or denomination, address/residence and signature of the reference patent owner;
c) reference patent number and the title of the invention, duration for which it was granted and the country of issuance.

(2) The application for the transitional protection will enclose the followings:

a) a copy of the corresponding reference patent;
b) a Romanian translation of the reference patent;
c) certification of the patent validity given by the office that granted the reference patent;
d) legalized statement of the reference patent owner that the product which is the subject-matter of the patented invention was not marketed in Romanian earlier than the date of December 31,1993;
e) power of attorney

(3) the documents provided for in paragraph (2) will be submitted together with the application, or within a period of time of two months from the date thereof.

Art.5 - (1) The State Office for Inventions and Trademarks records the application for transitional protection, examines the fulfilment of the conditions provided for by the present law and, within three months from the application filing date, publishes in the Official Bulletin for Industrial Property the granted transitional protection which is recorded into the appendix to the National Register of Patents and issues the Certificate of transitional protection together with the Romanian translation of the patent.
(2) The fees for the proceedings provided for in paragraph (1) are paid within two months from the date of filing the transitional protection application.
(3) The application failing to fulfill the conditions provided for in the present law.

Art.6 - (1) The decisions of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks regarding the transitional protection applications may be appealed to the Re-Examination Board within 30 days from the communication, in case of rejection, or from the publication, in case of the accepted applications.
(2) The decisions of the Re-Examination Board may be attacked with an appeal with the Municipal Court of Bucharest, within 30 days from the communication.
(3) The cancellation of the transitional protection certificate for failure to fulfill the conditions provided for by the present law may be demanded during the whole period of protection and it is judged by the Municipal Court of Bucharest.

Art.7 - (1) For proceedings, the rights conferred by the transitional protection, transfer, defending and maintaining into force thereof, there are applied the provisions of the Patent Law No.64/1991 published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No.211/October 21,1991, except the terms for the proceedings mentioned in Art.5 which are those provided for in the present law.
(2) In the application of the present law, the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks with a notice from the Ministry of Finances will issue Regulations which will be published in the Official Gazette of Romania.

Art.8 On the date of entering into force of the present law, the Governmental Ordinance No.25 of January 30, 1998 concerning the transitional protection for invention patents, published in the Official Gazette of Romanian, Part I, is abrogated.

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