Polish Parliament Moves Toward Amending IP Law, Patent Registration Procedures

WARSAW — The Polish Parliament has drafted an amended industrial property law which is expected to facilitate the procedure for registering trademarks and reduce related costs, as well as introduce a number of other modifications to the existing regulations.

Speaking at the Polish Senate, the higher chamber of the country’s parliament, on 4 September, Alicja Adamczyk, who heads the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland, told senators [available here, in Polish] that Polish entrepreneurs often opt to register their trademarks at the EU’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), as it takes only six months, compared with 14 months in Poland.

“The changes will surely result with an increased amount of applications to the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland, and with opting for the Polish procedure instead of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market in Alicante, Spain, owing to the fact that the domestic procedure is significantly less expensive – it costs 500 zloty [€119] if the application is made online,” Adamczyk said. “In the case of the applications to the OHIM, an online application costs €900.”

Under the plan, the amended law is to reduce the Polish procedure to six months.

Adamczyk said, “To date, due to our existing procedures and other obstacles which had existed until the drafting of these amendments, the procedure applied by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market had been not only easier,” but also “allowed to register trademarks which used the words Poland or Polish, while our procedure did not allow such a use.”

With the latest amendment, the Polish institution will start accepting patents which include the word ‘Poland’ which previously was not permitted. The amended law is also designed to proliferate online patent applications, as well as reduce the paperwork exchanged between the patent office and applicants, according to the office’s president. This said, the use of the Polish state symbols, or any symbols which could be found as offensive to any religious.

Before the senate voted on the draft amendments, they were also commented by senator Stanisław Iwan [available here, in Polish], who represents the opposition, and was appointed as the draft’s rapporteur.

“As a result of a debate which took place at a meeting of the [national economy] commission, we have decided to increase additional amendments. This is why, the initial fourteen amendments … were finally expanded to nineteen,” Iwan said. “The adopted solutions, which rely on making the procedures easier … are to have a positive impact on the competitiveness of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland regarding the EU’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market.”

More specifically, according to the senator, Poland’s current regulations require the patent office to perform an ex officio research procedure following the submission of a patent application.

“This is different from the law which is generally applied in the European Union [where] such a research is facilitated and a decision can be obtained in a shorter time frame,” Iwan said. “The key element here is that, if there is no objection made by those who possess a given trademark, then the entire formal research procedure does not have to be performed [by the patent office].”

On 5 September, the set of amendments to Poland’s patent law [available here, in Polish] was passed by the Senate by a majority of 59 against 32, with no abstentions. Following the vote, the draft was returned to the parliament’s lower chamber, the Sejm, where it is to pass a final vote before it can be signed by the Polish president.

Should these requirements be fulfilled, the “law is to enter into force after a period of six months,” according to Iwan.