Austrian Chapter of Global Patent GO——Introduction to Austrian Patent Application

Scenic Austria

Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Johann, Strauss, Beethoven, Schrödinger, Freud, and even Hitler, through these recognizable and inspiring names, we can focus our attention on a land of only 83,878 square meters On the map of 10,000 kilometers, this landlocked country bordering 8 countries in Eastern Europe and Western Europe in the southeast and northwest respectively is called Austria. The Republic of Austria, in fact the Second Austrian Republic, can trace its history back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. It ignited the fuse of the First World War and was annexed by Germany in World War II. Territorial integrity restored in Soviet hands. The "Reconstruction of an Independent and Democratic Austrian State Treaty" signed by Austria and the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France constitutes Austria's current foreign policy framework and eventually makes it a permanent neutral country.

Austria has beautiful scenery, and tourism accounts for 9% of the country's GDP. Industry and agriculture are developed, and state-owned enterprises control 95% of the basic industry and more than 85% of the power industry. Austria invests up to 480 million euros in research and development every year in the field of machinery manufacturing. Special machinery, customized machinery and boiler manufacturing are its core competitiveness. In addition, the chemical industry is also an important industrial sector in Austria. There are 280 chemical companies with an annual turnover of 14.2 billion euros. 100 multinational companies including BASF and Henkel have established Eastern European headquarters in Austria.

In 2020, the bilateral trade volume between China and Austria will be US$10.04 billion, of which China's exports will be US$3.41 billion. As of April 2021, China and Austria have signed 2,600 technology introduction contracts, with a cumulative contract value of US$6.76 billion. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Austrian Academy of Sciences signed a cooperation agreement in 1983, establishing a cooperative partnership. The two parties have achieved fruitful cooperation in the field of quantum physics, especially in space quantum communication and quantum physics experiments. In January 2020, Professor Herbert Mang, former president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, won the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award of the People's Republic of China. In September, the China-Austria “Belt and Road” joint laboratory for the prevention and treatment of major infectious diseases with traditional Chinese medicine jointly established by the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and the University of Graz in Austria was officially approved for construction. It is the first national “Belt and Road” joint experiment in the field of Chinese medicine room. In 2020, Austria submitted a total of 2,303 patent applications to the European Patent Office. Although the total number seems small, it is equivalent to 260 patent applications for the millionth person in Austria, ranking seventh in the world. Today, let's take a look at the Austrian patent system.

Austrian patent overview

1. Ways for Chinese applicants to apply for patents in Austria

Paris Convention, via Nationalization of PCT to enter the Austrian national phase, direct application.

2. Review unit

The Austrian Patent Office, ATPO, was established in the capital Vienna in 1900. It belongs to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs. Austria has implemented the patent system since 1810, and the first patent law was established in 1899. The Patent Office has 18 technical divisions responsible for preliminary examination and substantive examination, with a total of about 260 employees, who are divided into specialties according to international classification, namely machinery, chemistry, electricity, physics, etc. Examiners are also in charge of the IPC classification of patent applications.

3. Submit the application

1) Time limit requirements: ATPO recognizes the restoration of the priority right, and both the via Paris Convention and the via Nationalization of PCT can apply for the right restoration 2 months after the expiration; when the PCT international application enters the Austrian national phase, it can apply for invention patents and utility model patents at the same time; The new patent law came into effect in 1994, except that it does not protect microorganisms, and the scope of protection is almost the same as that of patents. The Austrian utility model also protects program logic. ATPO is the ISRing Authority and the International Preliminary Examining Authority.

2) Submit the application: paper or electronic submission;

3) Filing Language: German. Submissions in other languages are not permitted.

4. Formal review
APTO conducts general formality examination of patent applications ex officio. If it is found that the content does not meet the application requirements, the application procedures are incomplete, and the preparation of the patent specification does not meet the requirements, etc., it will be returned.

5. Disclosure, Examination and Authorization <br>Austria automatically implements substantive examination for invention patents, without the applicant having to file a separate request. If the granted conditions are met, it can be announced in the Austrian Patent Gazette. The publicity period is 4 months. If no one else raises an objection, ATPO will authorize the patent application after the publicity period expires. After the applicant pays the registration and publication fees, ATPO will issue a patent certificate , simultaneously published in the Austrian Patent Gazette. However, ATPO does not charge any official fees for the granted of design patents.

The average granted time for invention patents in Austria is 2 years; utility model patents take about 8-12 months, and it only takes 3-4 months if a request for expedited registration is made; the average granted time for design patents is only 1 month.

Advantages of Austrian patent application

1. At any time before the granted, the invention patent can be converted into a utility model patent, and the utility model can also be converted into an invention patent if necessary.

2. The Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology launched a "Market Subsidy" measure to help small and medium-sized enterprises marketize, which is used for market analysis, patent application, product packaging, marketing and sales network establishment of small and medium-sized enterprises. To promote 200 new products to the market.

3. Austria is a member state of the European Union and can enjoy the patent supplementary protection certificate system, and the SPC protection period is up to 5 years.

Friendliness to Chinese applicants:

★★★★★

Gold content of patent rights:

★★★★

The degree of perfection of the rights protection mechanism:

★★★★