The amendment introduced welcome changes to the Slovenian legislation by simplifying some of the procedures and aligning some of the Articles with the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court and the EU Directive 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to trademarks. The procedures for cancellation and declaration of nullity of trademarks are no longer court procedures but are now administrative procedures before the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office. We hope that this important change, i.e. the transfer of competence, will lead to faster decision making in these procedures.

Trademark infringement actions remain under the jurisdiction of the District Court in Ljubljana, as do matters where a counterclaim for cancellation or declaration of nullity is filed in an infringement action.

In the field of patents, the Slovenian Industrial Property Act is now aligned with the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, as the Unified Patent Court now has jurisdiction over disputes relating to national patents based on European patents as well as unitary patents.

The amended Industrial Property Act also provides that the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office issues an ex officio decision on declaration of nullity of the patent recorded in the Slovenian Patent Register on the basis of a European patent which has been revoked in its entirety at the European Patent Office. This provision follows the legal practice established in the Judgement of the Administrative Court No. I U 246/2020-6.

The amended Industrial Property Act also shortens the objective deadline for filing a request for continuation of the procedure from six to four months.

Finally, the amendment enables the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office to conclude contracts with other national offices and international organisations, such as the European Patent Organisation, for the provision of information services.