INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN ALBANIA

The Law on Industrial Property, 2008 and Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 315, dated May 31, 2018, 'On approval of the Trademark Regulation' – are the primary laws governing the mechanism of trademark registration and protection in Albania.
For getting a trademark registered in Albania, an application has to be filed with the General Directorate of Industrial Property.
It follows a 'first-to-file' system, which means that the earlier registered trademarks are given protection.
Albania follows the 11th edition of Nice Classification. Multi-class trademark applications are possible.
The third parties can file opposition actions against a trademark application within three (03) months from its publication in the trademark bulletin. The opposition term cannot be extended.
In Albania, registered trademarks have a validity of ten (10) years from the date of application, which can be further renewed indefinitely for successive periods of ten (10) years each.
The grace period to renew a trademark after the date of expiry is six (06) months.
The term for cancellation of a registered trademark based on non-use is five (05) years from the date of registration.

Albania is a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Patent Cooperation Treaty, and the European Patent Convention.
The Law on Industrial Property, 2008 deals with the mechanism of patent protection in Albania.
For seeking patent protection in Albania, an application has to be filed with the Albania Patents and Trademarks Office.
In Albania, an invention that satisfies the conditions of novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability, subjects to patentability. Process patent and product patent are the two types of patents that can be protected.
The types of patent applications that can be filed include Non-Convention Application and Convention Application.
The Office publishes the patent application within eighteen (18) months from the application date or the priority date if the priority has been claimed. Upon the publication of patent application, the decision on grant is to be issued and the publication date is considered as the registration date.
The interested parties can file an objection to the decision on grant with the Board of Appeal of the Albanian Patents and Trademarks Office within nine (09) months as from the date of publication of the patent issuance.
The patent protection term lasts for twenty (20) years in Albania.

The Law on Industrial Property, 2008 and the Decision of Council of Ministers no. 381 dated 8th April 2009 “On the approval of the regulation on the registration of industrial designs” - govern the protection of industrial designs in Albania.
For getting an industrial design registered in Albania, an application has to be filed with the Albanian Patents and Trademarks Office.
The right to priority can be claimed within six (06) months from the date when the product or products offered with the design were presented for the first time in the exposition.
Two or more designs may be the subject of the same application on the condition that they have the same class of international classification established by the Locarno Agreement.
If all the requirements are met, the Albanian Patents and Trademarks Office will issue the decision on grant of the industrial design in question. The decision will be published in the IP Official Gazette.
An opposition to a published industrial design can be filed within three (03) months from the date of publication.
The total duration of industrial design registration in Albania is twenty-five (25) years from the date of application.
The initial registration term is five (05) years, which is further extendible for four (04) terms of five (05) years each upon payment of the renewal fee.

The Law No. 35/2016 of March 31, 2016, on Copyright and Related Rights, is the primary law governing copyright and related rights in Albania.
The subject matter of copyrighted work is any original intellectual creation in the literary, artistic, and scientific domain, having an individual character, irrespective of the manner and form of its expression, its type, value or purpose, unless otherwise provided for in this law.
The authors can voluntarily register their works in a special register of electronic or written form or both, in the manner regulated by the Albanian Copyright Office.
The standard copyright protection term lasts for the lifetime of the author plus seventy (70) years following his death. However, the duration of copyright protection varies depending on the type of work.
After the author’s death, the property rights will be transferred by inheritance, according to civil legislation.
The property rights of a work in co-authorship shall be protected until the death of the last surviving author and running for seventy (70) years of his death.