Patent registration in Montenegro. Montenegro is a country in Southeastern Europe. The economy of Montenegro is mostly service-based and is in late transition to a market economy. Montenegro is a country based mainly on tourism activities. The Montenegrin Adriatic coast is 295 km long, with 72 km of beaches and many well-preserved ancient old towns. Some of the most popular beaches on the Montenegrin coast include Jaz Beach, Mogren Beach, Bečići Beach, Sveti Stefan Beach, and Velika Plaža. Meanwhile, some of the most popular ancient Montenegrin towns include Herceg Novi, Perast, Kotor, Budva, and Ulcinj. The National Geographic Traveler (edited once a decade) even ranks Montenegro among the “50 Places of a Lifetime.” Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in Montenegro.
Patent in Montenegro
To be patentable in this country, an invention must meet the requirements of novelty, inventiveness, and industrial applicability.
The inventive step requirement means that the invention is not obvious to a person who has the normal skill in the same industry.
The industrial applicability requirement means that the subject matter must be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture.
The new requirement means that the invention must not be disclosed anywhere else in the world.
However, if the disclosure of the invention in the patent application in Montenegro is absolutely necessary, the applicant should enter into a non-disclosure agreement with the third parties to whom the invention would be disclosed in order to protect their rights.
On the other hand, according to the law of this country, the unpatentable subjects that can’t be registered for a patent are:
- discoveries, scientific theories, and mathematical records;
- plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals, other than man-made living micro-organisms, microbiological processes, and the products of such microorganism processes;
- schemes, rules or methods for doing business, performing purely mental acts, or playing games;
- methods for the treatment of a human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Montenegro
The necessary documents for patent registration in Montenegro include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
Rights of a patentee
After registering a patent in Montenegro, the applicant will become the patentee, i.e. the patent owner and will have exclusive rights over the patent.
With a patent in hands, no organizations, even government can threaten or violate the rights of the patentee within the validity period of the patent.
In addition, patent registration also brings the following benefits:
- Can use the invention to apply in life to bring material benefits to the owner through commercial exploitation of the invention;
- Can take administrative or criminal legal measures to deal with infringement of inventions registered by a third party;
- Can be a hard proof showing that the patentee is the sole owner of the invention and will be protected by law when there is a dispute with a third party;
- Can use the invention exclusively for a stipulated period of time depending on the years the patentee pays the maintenance fee.
- Can assign, and transfer the invention to a third party to collect the transfer costs if the patentee has no urges to develop the invention anymore;
You can see a list of Montenegro IP firms here.