EC: Bosnia Needs to Improve IPR Enforcement

As part of the European Commission’s (EC) Enlargement Package for 2010, adopted on November 9, 2010, the EC issued a progress report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, part of which is on intellectual property rights. According to the report, some progress has been made in the adoption of IP laws, but the enforcement of IP rights still needs to be improved.

The progress has been made in the area of intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights. State-level laws on patents, trademarks, topographies of integrated circuits, geographical indications, industrial design, copyright and related rights, and the collective management of copyright have been adopted. The number of patent applications has increased. The average time needed to process a patent application has decreased from five to two years, and for trademark application from four to two and a half years.

On a less positive note, the report mentions high rates of counterfeiting and piracy and the fact that the country continues to be a point of distribution of unlicensed material to the rest of Europe. The report states that an action plan for capacity building needs to be prepared and that the coordination among enforcement bodies at various levels is still inadequate. Further efforts are required to strengthen the administrative and the enforcement capacity of Bosnia’s Institute for Intellectual Property.

For more information, please contact Alma Vilic at our Bosnia and Herzegovina office.

Source: EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina website