HUNGARY.

[Law of the 7th of July, 1895.]

CHAPTER I.

SUBJECT MATTER OF PATENTS.

SECTION 1. Any new invention capable of being utilized industrially may be patented.

SEC. 2. A patent shall not be allowed for an invention:

1. The working of which is contrary to a law, or an ordinance, or to public morals.

2. Which relates to arms for war purposes, explosives, ammunition, fortifications, or ships of war necessary for increasing the belligerent power of the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Navy, or the Hungarian militia, provided the Minister of Commerce enter an opposition against the grant of such patent within the term named in the second paragraph of section 34.

3. For scientific theorems or principles as such.

4. For articles serving for human or animal nourishment, for medicines and articles produced by chemical processes; the process employed in making such article may, however, be patented.

SEC. 3. The invention shall not be regarded as new if at the time of the application for a patent:

1. It has been so made known by published printed publications or other reproductions that it can be used by persons skilled in the art.

2. It has been so made known by public working, use, or exhibition that its employment by persons skilled in the art has been rendered possible.

3. It has formed the subject matter of a patent.

The invention shall be regarded as new notwithstanding publication of working, if between its last publication or working and the application for a patent for it a term of 100 years have elapsed.

It shall be determined by treaties with foreign States whether an official publication published in a foreign State deprives the invention of novelty (sec. 16).

SEC. 4. Two or more inventions differing from one another must be comprised in one patent unless they relate to one and the same object forming its constituent parts or operative means.

SEC. 5. The patent belongs to the inventor or his successors.

No patent shall be granted for an invention the essence of which has been taken from the description, drawings, models, devices, or apparatus, or from the processes employed by another person without the permission of the inventor or his successors, if he or they enter an opposition to the grant of such patent.

If in consequence of such opposition the application be withdrawn or rejected, the opponent may, if, within a term of thirty days from the receipt of the information of such fact, he file an application for a patent for the invention, claiming that the priority of his own application be reckoned from the date of the former application.

SEC. 6. The grant of a patent to persons in Government or private service, officers or employees, shall be refused on the opposition of the Government or of private persons employing the applicant, if on account of his service or official position, or owing to his contract, the applicant be obliged to use his knowledge of the art for inventing such processes of production or products of industry as those for which he has applied for a patent.

In such cases the Government or the private person or persons respectively are entitled to claim the grant of the patent for themselves within thirty days from the receipt of the information of the withdrawal or the rejection of the application, the priority being reckoned from the day of the former application.

SEC. 7. A patent having for its object an improvement or perfection of any other invention forming the subject matter of a patent or of an application for a patent may, within one year from the date of the application for a patent for the original invention, be granted only to the original applicant or his successors.

Consequently proceedings with reference to applications for improvements lodged by third parties may only be taken if the original applicant have not within the term above named lodged an application relating to such improvements. The applications lodged by third parties during this time shall be officially sealed and kept secret.

A patent having for its subject matter an improvement or perfection of the patented invention shall be granted to the owner of the original patent, either as a patent of addition or as an independent patent, either as a patent of addition or as an independent patent, as he may desire. A patent of addition shall not be granted to any person other than the owner of the original patent.

The patent of addition becomes an independent patent when the original patent becomes void by renunciation, withdrawal, or annulment.

SEC. 8. A patent confers upon its owner for the whole duration of its legal existence the exclusive right of making commercially, bringing into circulation, and using commercially or in the course of business the subject of the invention.

SEC. 9. A patent does not exonerate its owner from obeying the products produced by such process.

SEC. 9. A patent does not exonerate its owner from obeying the provisions contained in the existing laws and ordinances.

SEC. 10. A patent as well as a claim for the grant of a patent descends to the heirs of the owner.

The owner of a patent has the right to assign his patent as a whole or in part to living persons, and to permit to others to work or to use his patent with or without restrictions.

The right of working or using a patent, and the obligations connected therewith, descend to the heirs. The assignee or licensee may only assign his rights among living persons to others if, according to the agreement made with the patentee, this be explicitly permitted.

SEC. 11. If a patent be granted or assigned to two or more persons, they shall be regarded as joint owners, with equal shares, unless a different agreement be made. Each of the joint owners may freely dispose of his share, and may use the patent according to the meaning of section 8.

The right of using and working may be conferred upon third parties only by agreement of all the joint owners.

SEC. 12. A patent has no effect against a person who, before the date of filing the application by the patentee, has used the invention within the countries of the Hungarian Crown, or made preparations involving its use.

Such a person has the right to use the invention for the purpose of his business in his own or other establishments, but he may not sell or assign his rights except in connection with his own business.

SEC. 13. The effect of a patent does not extend to the construction of such means of transport as only pass through the countries of the Hungarian Crown or to such articles as are imported from abroad into free stores of these countries for the purpose of transit or reexportation without being put on the markets in the said countries.

SEC. 14. The effect of a patent may be restricted in so far, that on the basis of an ordinance of the Minister of Commerce such patent may be claimed, as a whole or in part, for its whole duration, or for

a shorter term, for the army, the militia, or the navy, or for the purposes of the State's monopoly. In such case a suitable compensation shall be given to the inventor, the amount of which, if no agreement can be made, is determined by the courts of law. The fact of an action for compensation being pending does not interfere with the above right of the State to use the invention.

SEC. 15. A person not normally residing in the country may obtain a patent, and exercise the rights originating therefrom, only after appointing, by a special power of attorney duly legalized and lodged in the Patent Office, a representative residing in the country.

Such representative is authorized to represent his client before the patent authorities and courts of law, to lodge requests relating to the application, to keeping in force the patent, to instituting penal proceedings, and to receive decisions on complaints and other decisions.

For actions against owners of patents residing abroad the court within the jurisdiction of which the representative has his residence is competent, or, if the owner have no representative, the court which has the seat of the Patent Office within its jurisdiction.

If the representative of the owner of a patent residing abroad renounce the power of attorney conferred upon him, or if he can not be found, and the owner of the patent have not appointed a new representative, or if the owner of the patent residing in the country settle abroad or can not be found, the patent authorities and the courts of law shall appoint a curator to represent the owner of the patent.

SEC. 16. Against the inhabitants of those foreign States which do not recognize reciprocity in patent rights with respect to our citizens. the Minister of Commerce may order reprisals, which, however, he must communicate to Parliament.

CHAPTER III.

DURATION, EXPIRATION, WITHDRAWAL, AND ANNULMENT OF. PATENTS.

SEC. 17. Patents are granted for a term of fifteen years, to be reckoned from the date of the application.

Patents of addition (Sec. 7) expire together with the original patent.

The duration of a patent of addition, which has become an independent patent, shall be reckoned from the date of the application for the original patent. A patent of addition which has become independent shall be considered as having taken the place of the original patent as regards the time at which the annuities become due and the amount of such annuities.

SEC. 18. A patent loses its validity:

(1) By expiry.

(2) By withdrawal or revocation. (3) By annulment.

SEC. 19. A patent expires:

(1) At the end of the fifteenth year.

(2) If the owner of the patent renounce it at the Patent Office in writing.

(3) If the annuities due be not paid in time.

If the renunciation extend only to parts of the invention protected by the patent, the patent remains in force as to the remaining parts. The patent ceases to be of force in consequence of expiration on the day following the day of expiration, in consequence of nonpayment of the annuity on the day following the expiration of the term of delay allowed (Sec. 45); in consequence of renunciation on the day following the day of lodging the renunciation.

SEC. 20. A patent may be withdrawn or revoked as a whole or in part:

(1) If the owner of the patent have neglected to work or use his invention within the countries of the Hungarian Crown, in substance and to an adequate extent, or if he have justifiably interrupted such working or use, or if he have not at least done all that is necessary, according to his own and the country's circumstances and conditions, for securing and continuing such working.

This withdrawal or revocation shall not, as a rule, take place until three years after the publication of the grant of the patent.

Exceptionally such withdrawal or revocation may take place at an earlier time, if the owner of the patent do not meet the demands of the country by working the invention in the country, or do not permit it to be done by granting licenses, and do not fulfill this obligation within a term appointed by the Patent Office under due consideration of the circumstances, notwithstanding that the invention worked abroad and its working in the country is desirable with regard to the public interest. In such cases, the Patent Office, when fixing the term, shall first warn the owner of the patent to work his invention, informing him of the reasons and drawing his attention to the consequences of his inaction.

(2) After three years from publishing the grant of the patent, if the owner of the patent do not work his patent to an extent adequate to the demand of the country and refuse to grant other trustworthy manufacturers in the country the necessary licenses for a suitable compensation and on good security, such compensation being determined by the Patent Office.