Patent examination procedure

A patent application should comprise a request, a description with claims, abstract and drawings if any. The application may be filed in any language, but a Hungarian translation must be filed within four months.

After the formalities have been completed, the Office will draw up a Search Report which will be transmitted to the applicant together with copies of any cited documents. The Hungarian Patent Bulletin mentions the publication of the Search Report simultaneously with the publication of the specification or, if it has not yet been issued at that time, thereafter.

A request for examination may be filed within six months after the date of the mention of the publication of the search report in the Bulletin.

Observations by third parties may be filed by any person with the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office during the patent grant procedure to the effect that the invention or the application does not comply with any of the requirements of patentability. The person making the observation will not be a party to the patent grant procedure but will be notified of the outcome of his comment.

Priorities

The claim for priority according to the Paris Convention may be filed within 16 months from the earliest priority. The priority document may be filed within 16 months from the earliest priority. The Office generally does not require a Hungarian translation of the priority document.

Internal priority: a provisional disclosure may be filed as the first application and the priority of this first application may be claimed for a second application within 12 months from the filing date of the first application. At the same time, the provisional application will become abandoned.

Requirement of unity

In a patent application only one invention may be patented. More than one invention may be included in a patent application only if their subject matter is closely interrelated, i.e. if they are based on a common inventive idea.

Modification

Amendments are allowed as long as being fully supported by the disclosure. There is no possibility of adding new matter.

Further processing:

In the case of non-statutory terms (i.e.: official terms) a request for further processing may be filed within two months from the notification of the consequence of the omission. The omitted act must be completed simultaneously.

Rectification of missed terms: in a less automatic way of obtaining an excuse for missing a term, a request for rectification may be filed within two months from the discovery of the missed term, this cannot occur later than 6 months from the term missed. This rectification may be duly applied only if the omission occurred for reasons beyond the party’s control. The omitted act must be completed simultaneously.

Divisional: The time limit for dividing an application is the date of the granting decision.