Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Bulgaria

NATIONAL LAW IMPLEMENTING THE ENFORCEMENT DIRECTIVE A. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY LAW Copyright: – Law on Copyright and Related Rights (LCRR) – Law on Administrative Regulation of the Manufacturing and Trading of Optical Discs, Matrices and Other Carriers, Holding Subjects to Copyright Industrial Property: – Law on Patents and Utility Model Registration (LPUMR) – Law on Trademarks and Geographical Indications (LTGI) – Law on Industrial Design (LID) – Law on the Protection of New Plant Varieties and Animal Breeds – Law on Topography of Integrated Circuits B. TRANSPOSITION ISSUES Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (“the Enforcement Directive”) came into force for Bulgaria as from January 1st 2007 – the date of the country's accession to the European Union. Nevertheless, the national legislation was harmonised with the Enforcement Directive far prior to accession, as part of the pre-accession process. Thus, the amendments of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights (LCRR) implementing the Enforcement Directive came into force as from January 1st 2006, the amendments of the Law on Trademarks and Geographical Indications (LTGI) and the Law on Industrial Design (LID) implementing the Enforcement Directive came into force as from October 6th 2006, the amendments of the Law on Patents and Utility Model Registration (LPUMR), implementing only Section 3 of the Enforcement Directive, came into force as from November 9th 2006. The Law on Administrative Regulation of the Manufacturing and Trading of Optical Discs, Matrices and Other Carriers, Holding Subjects to Copyright entered into force even before those mentioned above – on October 13 th 2005. The Law on the Protection of New Plant Varieties and Animal Breeds and Law on Topography of Integrated Circuits have not yet been harmonised with the Enforcement Directive, but bearing in mind the vertical direct effect of the Enforcement Directive, it might has direct implementation in these fields too. JURISDICTION AND COMPETENCE A. COMPETENCE OF LOCAL COURTS In contrast to some EU Member States, Bulgaria chose to have no centralised IP court, but to instead follow specialisation only with respect to some IP objects, such as patents, trademarks and industrial designs. Furthermore, the specialisation relates only to civil procedures, not to criminal or administrative ones.