In Romania, trademarks are registered with OSIM is done in 3 simple steps:
1. Filing and Publication – a trademark filing can be made directly with OSIM or electronically. The trademark application is published Official Gazette within 7 days from filing. The opposition period (2 months) starts from the date the application is published. Any interested party has the possibility in 2 months from the publication date to submit an opposition against the registration.  If no opposition is filed, the trademark will be examined
2. Examination – Examination is done by an examiner within 6-9 months from filing. After the examination the admittance decision will be issued and the trademark will be published for the 2nd time. In 30 days after the 2nd application any interested party has the possibility to file a contestation against the registration of the trademark.
3. Registration – If no contestation is filed both the registration decision and registration certificate is issued within 10-12 months from filing.
If the owner of the trademark will not use the trademark for a 5 years period, any third party has.

- The Protocol of Madrid allows trademark owners to protect their trademarks in severla countries by filing a single application at the national or regional trademark office that  they are represented by.

- If you do business in more than one EU country, an EU trade mark offers protection in the 28 Member States through the means of one single registration.
- EU trade marks are registered at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It is an all-or-nothing deal — either you obtain the protection for all Member States or not at all.
- The cost of an online application is €850 and is filed in just one language. After the application is received, it is checked and processed. Once registered, a European trade mark can be renewed indefinitely every 10 years.
- If you trade in just one country of the European Union (EU), your trade mark can be registered at a national office. Thus your brand and all the value it entails gets protection for where you need it.

1. Filing fee is fixed (€10) and publication fee is between €30 (for black and white word/device mark) and €100 (for colour word/device mark). Any additional class is charged by OSIM with an additional official fee of €50.
2. Examination fee starts from €110 – €190 (depending on the type of application – black and white / colour trademark application) and will increase based on the list of goods and services selected for registration.
3. Registration certificate official fee charged by OSIM is €50.

- The term for filing the patent application in Romania to claim priority is 12 months from the date of priority; however, it is possible to invoke priority within 2 months of the date of expiration of the priority date upon the payment of an extra fee.
- A patent application can be filed in Romania within 12 months from the date of priority claimed according to Paris Convention.

- If the applicant is not the inventor, the patent application shall also contain particulars serving to identify the inventor and shall be accompanied by a document indicating the origin of the right to the grant of the patent.

- The document referred to above shall be filed before a decision is taken in respect of the patent application.

- The official legalization of a Power of Attorney is not required. It should be provided to the Romanian Patent Office simultaneously with filing or within 4 months from filing the Romanian patent application or within 2 months from the date on which the applicant is notified by OSIM with reference to the filing of the missing document, whichever expires later.

- The substantive examination should be requested within 30 months from the date of filing the patent application in Romania.

- The grant fee should be paid within 4 months from issuance of a decision to grant a patent in Romania. Accumulated annuities should be paid within 1 year from the date of publication of the mention to grant a patent.

- The Patent Law provides a grace period of six months for two specific cases of non-prejudicial disclosure. Thus, disclosure of an invention before the date of filing of the application is not included in the state of the art when it was due to or in consequence of:

●  an evident abuse in relation to the applicant or its legal predecessor; or

● the invention being displayed at an official or officially recognized international exhibition.

- For the foreigners residing outside Romania it is compulsory to perform the patent prosecution in Romania through an agent, a registered Romanian patent attorney.

- Any third party may file a request for revocation of a national patent. Revocation requests must be filed with the Patent Office within six months of publication of grant of the patent. Revocations can be based only on the grounds that:

●  the patent’s subject matter is not patentable;

●  the invention is not disclosed clearly or completely enough for a person skilled in the art to carry it out; or

●  the patent’s subject matter extends beyond the content of the application as filed.

An appeal can be filed against a Patent Office decision before the Bucharest Tribunal and a second-instance appeal can be filed before the Bucharest Court of Appeal.

- Any examination division decision can be appealed within three months of the decision being communicated. An appeal against a patent decision must be lodged before the Patent Office Board of Appeal. Board of Appeal decisions may be appealed before the Bucharest Tribunal. Second-instance appeals take place before the Bucharest Court of Appeal.

- Patents are granted in between two and a half years and three and a half years from the date of filing the patent application. The official fees for a standard patent application of no more than 20 pages and with no more than five claims is around €1,200. This includes the official fee for the first five years of protection.

● Grant of the Patent can be requested for different countries at applicant‘s discretion (Art 3 EPC)
● However: meanwhile, a single designation fee for all countries has been introduced (Art 79 EPC, R 39 EPC, R fees Art 2 Nr. 3)
● Extension to/validation in certain countries is possible
● Different applicants for different countries are permitted (Art 59 EPC)
● Mandatory common designations are possible (Art 149 EPC, CH/LI)
● Unitary Patent is a „possible fiber“ in the future
● Application/Patent has to be unitary (Art 118 EPC)
Exception: National prior rights (R 138 EPC)
● Minimal rights are ensured by EPC (e.g. Art 63, 64(2), 69 EPC)
● Revocation grounds are limited (Art 138 EPC)
● Authentic text of the patent is the version in the language of the proceedings (Art 70 EPC)
● Court actions on entitlement of inventor have to be accepted from other countries (Art 60, Recog. Prot.)
● Translation requirements often reduced (London Agreement)

Within 31 months from the earliest priority claimed.
● File a translation of the international patent.
● Specify the application documents, as originally filed or as amended, on which the European grant procedure is to be based.
● Pay the filing fee and designation fee as well as the search fee if required.
● File a request for examination.
● Pay annual fee if due.

● Common initial application process
● Harmonization of procedural law (Art 27 PCT)
● However, certain national requirements and reservations are (still) in force (e.g. Art 27(2)…, R 51bis PCT)
● Initial assessment of patentability by international search (Chapter I) and examination (Chapter II)
● Guarantees minimal rights
● „extending priority year“ (Art 23, 39 PCT)
● PCT-application= „Bundle Application“

● Grant of the Patent can be requested for different countries at the applicant‘s discretion (Art 4(1) ii), Art 24(1) i), Art 37 PCT)
● however: meanwhile an automatic designation for all member countries has been introduced (R 4.10 PCT) with the possibility to „opt out“
● Different applicants for different countries are possible (R 4.5d PCT)
● Mandatory common designations possible; National route can be closed (Art 4(1)ii), Art 45(2) PCT)
● Result of PCT search and examination not binding (Art 27(5), 33(1) PCT)
● Result of international search/examination is a good indication for patentability
● Most countries see the international result as a „starting point“
● Some countries use a positive international result as a basis for a national grant
● Additional national search can be requested (R45bis PCT)

- First of all it is necessary to know the countries where you have commercial interests. If most of the countries are in EPC contracting states, then you should choose the EPC. If you target countries both EPC (38 states) and outside EPC, then you need to choose EURO-PCT. If you choose EURO- PCT or PCT, we recommend you to file a patent application in Romania because protection is easier obtained.