Romania - Patent Pipeline Protection for Previously Unpatentable Products

Romania has amended its law to provided that applications for protection of previously unpatentable subject matter may be accepted notwithstanding publication of the invention prior to the filing date of the Romanian application as long as:

The application is filed in Romania by September 1, 1998;

A patent for the invention has been granted for the invention in a WTO member state based on an application having a priority date earlier than January 21, 1991 and that patent is still in force;

There has been no Romanian patent granted on the invention and there was no commercialization of the The new provisions apply to inventions relating to substances obtained by nuclear or chemical methods, medicinal products, methods of diagnosis and medical treatment, disinfectants, food products and spices, plant varieties, bacteria and fungi strains and new breeds of animals and silk worms.