National Assembly of Republic of Serbia adopted amendments to the Law on Patents on December 7, 2018. Those amendments came into force on December 16, 2018.
The adopted amendments concern the provisions which govern civil rights protection in order to establish a more effective legal protection of patent holders. For instance, the plaintiff may file a lawsuit in order to prohibit actions that are deemed as a serious risk for patent violation as well as to prohibit repetition of such or similar actions under the threat of fines. In addition, patent may be protected in a situation where violation of the rights has not still occurred and a serious risk exists that such injury will occur. Furthermore, number of defendants against which lawsuit for violation of rights may be filed or interim injunction may be determined, is extended to the persons whose services were used during violation of rights (intermediaries). Moreover, amendments to Article 132 explicitly stipulated what is considered as patent violation.
Finally, adopted amendments create more efficient administrative control over the decisions of the Serbian IPO by prescribing the right of appeal against all decisions under which proceedings were ended, unless otherwise provided by law.
In case of any issues regarding this amendment, please contact Slobodan Kremenjak, Živković Samardžić IP, Competition, Technology, Media and Communication Partner (slobodan.kremenjak@zslaw.rs).