Intellectual Property Protection in Romania A review of the present situation of intellectual property rights and their enforcement in Romania Prepared by Dr. Gerd F. Kunze, Of Counsel, Walder Wyss & Partners, Zurich and Brigitte Lindner, Rechtsanwältin, London 10 September 2004 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 7 SUMMARY 8 I Industrial Property 8 II Copyright and Related Rights 10 III Enforcement 12 IV Recommendations 15 DISCUSSION 17 PART I INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY 17 A. Legislative Framework for the protection of Industrial Property Rights 17 1. Laws dealing with Industrial Property Rights and their enforcement 17 2. International Conventions and Treaties 18 a) Paris Convention 18 b) WIPO Convention 18 c) WTO 18 d) Patent Cooperation Treaty 18 e) European Patent Convention 18 f) Budapest Treaty on the international recognition of the deposit of micro organisms for the purposes of patent protection 18 g) UPOV (since March 16, 2001) 18 h) Strasbourg Agreement on the International Patent Classification 18 i) Madrid Agreement 18 j) Madrid Protocol 18 k) Nice Agreement concerning the international classification of goods and services 18 l) Vienna Agreement establishing and International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks 18 m) Trademark Law Treaty 18 n) Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs 18 o) Locarno Agreement Concerning the International Classification for Industrial Designs 18 3. Bilateral Agreements 18 4. Institutions dealing with Industrial Property 19 B. Substantive Legal Issues of Industrial Property Protection 19 1. Patent Law 19 a) Patentable inventions 19 b) Exclusion from patent grant 20 c) Owner of rights to the patent 20 d) Patent application and registration 20 e) Regular filing 20 f) Unity of invention (Article 19) 21 g) Priority 21 h) Publication 21 i) Search report 21 3 k) Provisional protection 21 l) Examination 21 m) Publication, effective date, registration and issue of the patent 21 n) Patent term and supplementary protection 22 o) Exclusive right and exemptions 22 p) Representation 22 q) Reinstatement of rights 22 r) Cancellation 22 s) Foreign patents 23 t) Transfer of rights 23 u) Compulsory license 23 v) Means of legal redress, revocation 23 2. Law on the Protection of Topographies of Integrated Circuits 24 3. Law on the protection of new plant varieties 24 4. Law on Marks and Geographical Indications 24 a) Definition of a mark 24 b) Protection by registration 25 c) Absolute grounds for refusal 25 d) Relative grounds for refusal 25 e) Application for registration of a mark 25 f) Registration procedure 26 g) Duration, renewal and amendment of registrations for marks 27 h) Rights conferred by a mark 27 i) Transfer of rights 27 k) Loss of rights in a mark 28 l) Collective marks and certification marks 29 m) International registrations 30 n) Geographical indications 31 o) Appeal to decisions of the OSIM 33 5. Protection of trade names 33 6. Industrial Design Law 33 a) Protection of industrial designs 33 b) Application for registration 34 c) Preliminary examination and publication 35 d) Opposition 35 e) Examination and registration 35 f) Grounds for rejection of the application 36 g) Appeal 36 h) Rights conferred 36 i) Period of validity 36 k) Marking 37 l) Transfer 37 m) Registration abroad and international registration 37 n) Cancellation 37 7. Law on the repression of unfair competition 37 a) Acts of unfair competition 37 b) Trade secrets 38 c) Protection of industrial property and “firms” through unfair competition law 39 8. Consumer Protection Law 39 C. Recommendations 40 1. Patents 40 2. Trademarks and geographical indications 40 4 3. Trade names 41 PART II COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS 42 A. Legislative framework for the protection of copyright and related rights 42 1. Laws dealing with the protection of copyright and related rights 42 2. International conventions 42 a) Berne Convention 43 b) Rome Convention 43 c) Geneva (Phonograms) Convention 43 d) TRIPS Agreement 43 e) WIPO Treaties 44 f) Self-executing nature of international treaties 44 3. Bilateral agreements 44 4. Institutions dealing with the protection of copyright and related rights 44 B. Substantive legal issues in the field of copyright and related rights 45 1. Subject matter of protection 45 a) Copyright 45 b) Related rights 46 c) Sui generis rights 48 2. Conditions for protection 48 a) Eligibility for protection 48 b) Applicability in time 50 c) Compliance with formalities 51 3. Beneficiaries of protection 52 a) Works 52 b) Subject matters of related rights 54 c) Sui generis right 55 4. Scope of protection 55 a) Works in general 55 b) Works of art 58 c) Computer programs 58 d) Related rights 58 e) Sui generis right 61 f) Protection of technological measures and rights management information 61 5. Duration of protection 62 a) Copyright 62 b) Related rights 63 c) Sui generis right 63 6. Limitations and exceptions 64 a) Catalogue of exceptions provided for in Articles 33, 35, 37 and 38 Copyright Law 64 b) Private copying 65 5 c) Relationship between exceptions and technological measures 68 d) Computer programs 68 e) Sui generis right 68 7. Transfer of copyright and related rights 69 a) Copyright 69 b) Related rights 70 c) Sui generis right 71 8. Administration of copyright and related rights 71 a) Legal provisions governing rights management 71 b) Practical rights management 76 C. Recommendations 77 1. Applicability in time 77 2. Scope of protection 77 3. Duration of protection 77 4. Limitations and exceptions 78 5. Clarifications 78 6. Collective administration 78 PART III ENFORCEMENT 80 A. Legal tools for the enforcement of intellectual property rights 80 1. Civil remedies and procedure 80 a) Civil remedies 80 b) Civil procedure in general 81 c) Provisional measures 84 2. Criminal sanctions and procedure 87 a) Criminal sanctions 87 b) Procedural aspects 94 3. Administrative sanctions and procedure 100 a) Industrial property 100 b) Copyright and related rights 103 4. Border measures 107 a) Legal provisions 107 b) Structure 107 c) Scope of application of the Law 107 d) Cooperation with other authorities 108 e) Procedure based on application 109 f) Action ex officio (Art. 16 – 18) 110 g) Consequences of a court decision against the right holder 110 h) Consequences of a court decision in favour of the right holder 110 i) International cooperation 111 6 B. Practical enforcement 111 1. Counterfeiting and piracy affecting the various industries 112 a) Industrial property 112 b) Copyright and related rights 113 2. Main obstacles to successful enforcement 116 C. Recommendations 118 1. Legal issues 118 2. Practical issues 119 7 INTRODUCTION The Advisory Group on the Protection and Implementation of Intellectual Property Rights for Investment of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) entrusted Dr Gerd F. Kunze, Of Counsel, Walder Wyss & Partners, Zurich and Brigitte Lindner, Rechtsanwältin and Registered European Lawyer (Bar Council) of Serle Court, Lincoln’s Inn, London, with the preparation of a background paper as a basis for a consultative meeting to be held in the autumn of 2004 in Romania. While Dr Kunze was given the task to study the situation of industrial property rights including unfair competition, Miss Lindner was to analyse the situation with regard to copyright and related rights and to finalise the report. As a result, while Part I dealing with industrial property rights was prepared by Dr Gerd F. Kunze and Part II on copyright and related rights by Brigitte Lindner, Part III addressing the enforcement of intellectual property rights constitutes a co-production of both consultants. The background paper is based on the legislation in English translation, which was made available to the consultants as well as on information obtained during the discussions with the persons listed below. Often, it was necessary to rely on general information on the contents of laws, since many laws, in particular statutes governing enforcement such as the laws on civil, criminal and administrative procedures were not at the consultants’ disposal in English translation or only in part. Meetings were held in Bucharest from 14 to 16 July 2004 with the following representatives of both public and private bodies: Public sector Industrial Property: Alexandru Christian Strenc, Deputy Director General, OSIM Liviu Bulgar, Director, Patent Department, OSIM Cornelia Constanta Moraru, Head Legal Department – international Cooperation, OSIM Dana Butca,Head, International cooperation, OSIM Dan Pantea, Director General adjunct, Finance Ministry Mihail Meiu, Director, National Authority for Consumer Protection Copyright and related rights: Rodica Parvu, Director General, ORDA Eugen Uricaru, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Eugen Vasiliu, Director General Adjunct, ORDA Enforcement: Ion Codescu, Deputy Director, European Integration Department, Ministry of Justice Dragos Demitru, Prosecutor in charge for IPR in the General Prosecutor’s Office Georgeta Mitroi, Head of the intellectual property service, Customs Control and Surveillance Dan Olteanu, Chief Police Investigator, General Police Inspectorate of the Romanian Police, Ministry of Administrative and Internal Affairs Private sector Industrial Property Lucian Enescu, Director General, Rominvent S.A: Ion Mocanu, Head of Legal Department, Rominvent S.A. Nicolae Burchel, Managing Partner, Burchel & Associates (communication in writing) Frederic Thiry, Senior Counsel, Brand Integrity, Phillip Morris International Management S.A, Lausanne,