Bosnia Adopts Two Copyright Draft Laws

On July 13, 2010, the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted two new draft laws in the field of intellectual property, the Draft Law on Copyrights and Related Rights and the Draft Law on the Collective Management of Copyrights and Related Rights. The laws are now being revised by a lexical commission and are to be published in the Official Gazette in the near future. They are expected to enter into force by the end of the year.

The new copyright laws aim to harmonize the Bosnian regulations with the EU laws and existing international convention and treaties. The current law that regulates this area is not harmonized with the EU directives and is only partly harmonized with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Furthermore, the collective management of copyright and related rights is not at all regulated under the current law. It was therefore necessary to create a separate law, mainly to allow a wider and more complete way of regulating this area of copyright.

The copyright holders or their legal representatives can now request customs monitoring for the seized goods protected by the copyright law. The copyright holders and their legal representatives are required to submit the request, which has a two-year time limit for the monitoring of seized goods. After the two years pass, a new request is to be submitted. The copyright holders and their legal representatives will also be required to supply statements that they will cover all expenses in case the seized goods prove to be genuine or in case the copyright holders or their legal representatives cancel the customs procedure.

Furthermore, the five recently adopted intellectual property laws — the Law on the Protection of Indications of Geographical Origin, the Law on the Protection of Topographies of Integrated Circuits, the Law on Industrial Designs, the Trademark Law and the Patent Law — were published in the Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. 53/10 on June 29, 2010, and will enter into force on January 1, 2011.

For more information, please contact Alma Vilic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Institute for Intellectual Property for Bosnia and Herzegovina