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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN AUSTRIA

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Opposition Term

03 Months

Registration Term

10 Years

First Renewal Term

10 Years

Subsequent Renewal Term

10 Years

  • In Austria, the national legal framework for trademarks is set out in the Trademark Protection Act (260/1970, Federal Law Gazette).

  • In Austria, trademarks can be protected and enforced as Austrian trademarks, EU trademarks, and Austrian trademarks based on an international registration under the Madrid Protocol.

  • An application has to be filed with the Austrian Patent Office, which administers the entire trademark registration process.

  • It follows a 'first-to-file' system, which means that except in some specific cases, the rights to a trademark are granted to the first person to file it.

  • Austria follows the 11th edition of Nice Classification. Multi-class trademark applications are possible.

  • The opposition period is three (03) months from the publication of the registration in the 'Österreichischer Markenanzeiger.'

  • The protection period is ten (10) years and the registration is renewable for periods of ten (10) years without limitation. Since September 13, 2018, the ten-year protection period of national Austrian trademarks is calculated from the date of the application and no longer from the registration. Previously registered trademarks also fall under this new provision.

  • The grace period to renew a trademark after the date of expiry is six (06) months from the last day of the month the trademark was registered.

  • The term for cancellation of a registered trademark based on non-use is five (05) years from the date of registration.

  • Austria is a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

  • Patents in Austria are governed by the Austrian Patent Law 1970.

  • For seeking patent protection in Austria, an application has to be filed with the Patent Office of Austria.

  • Patents are granted on inventions that are novel, which having regard to state of the art, are not obvious to a person skilled in the art, and which can be applied in the industry.

  • The types of patent applications that can be filed include Non-Convention Application and Convention Application. 

  • Within four (04) months of the grant of the patent, an opposition may be lodged on the grounds of the lack of patentability, insufficient disclosure, disclosure surmounting the originally filed version, and micro-organisms not being available at the depositing institution.

  • The patent of invention lasts for twenty (20) years from the filing date of an application.

  • The Austrian Design Protection Act, 1990 is the primary law governing industrial design protection in Austria.

  • For getting an industrial design registered in Austria, an application has to be filed with the Austrian Patent Office, which administers the entire process of registration.

  • The types of industrial design applications that can be filed in Austria include Non-Convention Application and Convention Application. 

  • Utility model protection is not provided under industrial design protection in the nation. There is a separate Austrian Utility Model Act.

  • There are no separate opposition proceedings in Austria. After registration, designs may only be declared invalid through an invalidity action.

  • The term of industrial design protection is five (05) from the date of application. The rights holder may have the term of protection extended four (04) times by five (05) years. The maximum duration of a industrial design registration is twenty-five (25) years.

  • The time frame for payment of the renewal fee is at the end of the five-year protection period until the last day of the calendar month in which the application was filed.

  • There is a grace period of six (06) months to renew a registered industrial design in Austria.

  • Austria is a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. 

  • In Austria, the Federal Law on Copyright in Works of Literature and Arts and on Related Rights (the Copyright Act), in the current version of the Federal Gazette I No. 99/2015, provides for the protection of the copyright of the author.

  • The Copyright Act protects original intellectual productions in the fields of literature, music, art, and cinematography.

  • Austria does not have a copyright agency because copyright originates from the creation of a work and no formal requirements need to be fulfilled for copyright to be acknowledged.

  • In Austria, the Copyright Act provides for a protection period of seventy (70) years following the death of the author with regard to literary and artistic works, and musical art. In the case of a co-authorship, the protection period ends seventy (70) years after the death of the last surviving co-author. If the speech or performance has been recorded on an audiovisual carrier or an audio carrier, the term of copyright protection lasts for seventy (70) years from publication of the recording.

  • The neighboring right for photos lasts for fifty (50) years from the taking of the photo and where the photograph is made public before the expiry of that term, the protection term is fifty (50) years after publication.

  • The protection period for anonymous and pseudonymous works shall run for seventy (70) years after their creation. But when the work is published before the expiry of that period, copyright shall run for seventy (70) years after publication.