!!!Patentrecht

Patent Law, patents are granted for technological inventions (not for 
discoveries), unless they are excluded from patent protection (e.g. 
for offences against public order and morals). The first privileges 
for inventions were granted in 1709, currently the Patent Law of 1970 
(with amendments) is in force. Applications for patents are filed with 
the Patent Office. The term of a patent lasts for 18 years from the 
date of its publication in the patent office journal (and at most for 
20 years from the date of application). The owner of a patent is 
entitled to the exclusive and commercial use of the invention; patents 
are transferable, other persons can be granted the permission to use 
the invention (licences). The Patent Office (located in Vienna) is 
subordinated to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, it grants patents 
and administrates matters concerning trademarks and designs. The field 
of responsibility of the Patent Office includes publishing an official 
patent journal at regular intervals and managing the register of 
patents. Applicants can appeal from a decision of the revocation 
division to the Supreme Patent and Trademarks Senate (OPM - Obersten 
Patent- und Markensenat). The OPM (until 1964 it was known as Patent 
Court / Patentgerichtshof) is an independent collegiate body which 
consists of judges and administrative civil servants.

!Literature
F. Schoenherr and G. Kucsko, Wettbewerbs-, Marken-, 
Muster- und Patentrecht, %%sup 3/%1987.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Patentrecht|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]