Inducement that has not a form of due proposal for an opening of proceeding is not subject to payment. (See reply to question 3)

The Slovak legislation does not currently address these proceedings, however new specific regulation is under consideration.

As has been said above, the special course of legal action is not fixed. If the infringement of rights is not apparent, the custom authorities will ask the Industrial Property Office for its opinion.

In case that the customs authorities did not fulfil their obligation stipulated in Section 60 of Law No. 180/1996 Coll. (see point 3) although they have known about the infringement of the intellectual property right or they should have known under the circumstances and consequently the damage has arisen, the State is responsible for the damage caused by inappropriate administrative proceedings according to Law No. 58/1969 Coll, Section 18 and following (Law on liability for injury suffered because of a State authority decision or because of wrong administrative procedure No. 58/1969 Coll.)

See the answer to question no. 9. It is necessary to add that the precondition for responsibility is an occurrence of damage as a loss of the property which can be objectively expressed in monetary terms. Jointly with the damages the party may also claim loss of profit.

Also in this case the responsibilities may be considered in a sense of the answer to question no. 9 if it is possible to state and prove an incorrect administrative course of action, the presence of damage and nexus causalis between the action of a State body and damage inception.

The Law does not contain special provision. In the practice, the customs authorities will require an opinion of the right holder and the Industrial Property Office. The right holder’s right to information on the origin of goods and documents attached are included in Section 25(2) of the Law on Trademarks No. 55/1997 Coll. This right can be enforced by the Court as well.

Generally, the obligation of confidentiality of customs authorities is laid down in Section 12 of Law No. 180/1996 Coll. In this way trade secrecy and confidential information are protected. The trade secrecy is defined by the Commercial Code in Sections 17 and 20 and determines also the circle of responsible persons, including third parties besides customs authorities. Revealing of or abusing trade secrecy may be considered as an act of unfair competition. This may also create the basis for compensation in damages as well as for penal sanction (Section 149 of the Penal Code).

The Slovak legislation does not currently address the issues contained in Articles 51 55 and 59 of the TRIPS Agreement. Relevant legislation in this context is under consideration.

See reply to question no. 14 above.

See reply to question no. 14 above.

See reply to question no. 14 above.

See reply to question no. 14 above.

See reply to question no. 14 above.

See reply to question no. 14 above.

See reply to question no. 14 above.

In the beginning it might be useful to mention that in the Slovak Republic the judicial system is composed of three levels – three instances. The first instance is represented by district courts courts of general jurisdiction. Then there is the second instance, consisting of county courts that function as appellate courts, and the last resort is represented by the supreme court, whose task is to reach decisions mainly in matters of extraordinary remedies. In some specified cases of commercial and criminal law, county courts act as first instance courts and the role of the appellate court is then passed to the supreme court. Slovak courts and judiciary are fully independent. This means that all the judges are bound only by their consciousness and valid law. The jurist opinion of courts of higher instance is obligatory to courts of lower instance only with respect to a particular case. Despite that, there exists predominantly an informal system of precedence which is customarily applied to all cases, granting that decisions of the supreme court (primarily those generalising and representative) are officially published and widely respected. In appellate proceedings (judicial reviews) the relevant court of higher instance is able either to modify or to confirm the sentence or, if the sentence is found inadequate, to suspend it altogether and remit the case to the respective court of lower instance. The regulations concerning civil procedures are provided for by the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure, Act No. 99/1963, Digest of Laws, in accordance with the wording of later regulations. Requirements that need to be complied with if a party intends to file an action are relatively simple. The party wishing to file an action has only to supply the following information in his or her formal written request: identification of the parties involved in the enforcement procedure to be initiated, the merits of the case, the evidence proposed and the proposal for the court regarding the desirable kind of decision it should reach. Pursuant to Section 80 (b) and (c) of the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure, in filing a legal action the party is able to require the court to decide primarily whether the duty established by the law is complied within a legal relationship or in any violation of the law. The court could also determine whether there is any legal relationship or right at all given that there is an urgent valuable interest concerning this question. A party to an enforcement proceeding is thus entitled to ask the court to reach a decision in any of the ways corresponding to all the relevant criteria cited. In practice this means that courts decide on matters of damage payments, of adequate compensation for a non proprietary injury, which may also come in the form of financial compensation. Courts are authorised to order or forbid certain actions. Courts also decide on the existence or non existence of a right or legal relationship, given that there is a valuable interest concerning such a decision. Representation of a party by his or her counsel is not mandatory in trial proceedings, and legal fees account for 4% of the recoverable debt, the maximum amount being set as Sk 100 000, in commercial cases as Sk 500 000. There are several situations in which county courts function as first instance courts, namely in the following cases: enforcement of tradename rights, trademark rights and label of origin rights, then in matters of legal relationship concerning competition protection, unfair competition, patent rights, protected layout-designs and industrial designs and topography of semiconductor products as a subject of trade. The same applies to relationships resulting from copyright and related rights. In such cases the supreme court functions as an appellate court. Formal requirements necessary for appealing against a sentence are more or less identical with those of filing an action. The structure of courts and their interrelationships are established by the Act on Courts and Judiciary No. 335/1991, Digest of Laws, in accordance with the wording of later regulations. The jurisdiction of courts concerning cases and localities as well as functions is established by the already cited Slovak Code of Civil Procedure. In the field of patent protection, there is the central administrative authority the Slovak Industrial Property Office ("SIPO"), which keeps the registers of separate subjects of industrial property, makes decisions regarding the entry or the cancellation in the registers, the annulment of the patent in the registers, changes in registers and the relevant agenda. The decision of SIPO can be, after all proper remedies of administrative proceedings have been exhausted, submitted to a court, if there is a formal request, and the court will review the decision’s legality. Decisions of SIPO can be reviewed by the supreme court. Aside from all the standard procedures of legal proceedings, in enforcement of rights, if there is a case of emergency, a request can be applied to obtain preliminary measures, pursuant to Section 74 and the following provisions of the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure. Pursuant to Section 76, paragraph 1, letters d), e) and f), through preliminary measures the court is authorised primarily to order a party to pay a security or to deposit an object in court, to do something, to abstain from something, or to bear something, or the court is able to forbid a party to use certain things or rights. Preliminary measures represent from a procedural point of view a considerably simplified and rapid action, allowing the court to omit hearing the parties in person, but on the other hand binding it to reach a decision within the set period of one month, starting from the day the respective action has been filed. Preliminary measures can be enforced immediately, regardless of any contingent appeal against them, however, their effect is limited temporarily and also by their content, since they should not substitute a proper decision on the merits of the case and their effect is in principle bound to filing a proper legal action subsequently, within a proper time period determined by the court. As soon as a proper decision on the merits of the case is reached, the effect of the preliminary measures ceases by law. Otherwise it can cease when the time period determined by the court is over, or if the party does not comply with his or her obligation and fails to file a proper legal action regarding the case.

Damages payment or adequate compensation for non proprietary injury concerning the subject of industrial property falls within the jurisdiction of county courts. The same applies to copyright and related rights. Damage payment in general is regulated by Section 420 and the following provisions of the Civil Code. Certain specialized laws also relate to this regulation, like for example Section 26 of the Act on Trademarks, which aside from payment of damages also establishes the right to adequate compensation for non proprietary injury, granting that this compensation can also be submitted in the form of financial remuneration. In the case of inventions and industrial designs, the relevant regulations are stated in Section 75 of the Act No. 527/1990, Digest of Laws. Above all the injured party has the obligations to substantiate his or her claim for damage, calculate the payment and state who is responsible for the injury. Here it is necessary to mention that in the Slovak Republic there has been a system of authorised experts functioning for a long time, granting that these experts are called to provide their expert’s opinion in certain specific areas.

The court will decide on the right to compensation for legal fees along with its decision on the merits. The right to legal fees payment is regulated by Section 137 and following of the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure. Pursuant to Section 142 of the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure, the party with full success in the action, will be granted by the court compensation for all legal fees necessary to enforce the law or to defend the law efficiently against the party who was not successful. In the case of partial success, the court will distribute the payments appropriately or will decide that the parties are not entitled to compensation for legal fees. The successful party is thus able to enforce the right to compensation for all fees that were demonstrably used to gain effective law enforcement or defence, against the opposing party. These fees also include personal expenses, expenses for expert opinions, attorney’s charges, legal fees, and so on. An analogous regulation can be found also in the Act on Administrative Proceedings.

Damages payment or adequate compensation for non proprietary injury concerning the subject of industrial property falls within the jurisdiction of county courts. The same applies to copyright and related rights. Damage payment in general is regulated by Section 420 and following of the Civil Code. Certain specialized laws also relate to this regulation, like for example Section 26 of the Act on Trademarks, which aside from payment of damages also establishes the right to adequate compensation for non proprietary injury, granting that this compensation can be submitted also in the form of financial remuneration. In the case of inventions and industrial designs, the relevant regulations are stated in Section 75 of Act No. 527/1990, Digest of Laws. Above all the injured party has the obligations to substantiate his or her claim for damage, calculate the payment and state, who is responsible for the injury. Here it is necessary to mention, that in the Slovak Republic there has been a system of authorised experts functioning for a long time, granting that these experts are called to provide their expert’s opinion in certain specific areas. The court will decide on the right to compensation for legal fees along with its decision on the merits. The right to legal fees payment is regulated by Section 137 and following of the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure. Pursuant to Section 142 of the Slovak Code of Civil Procedure, the party with full success in the action, will be granted by the court compensation for all legal fees necessary to enforce the law or to defend the law efficiently against the party who was not successful. In the case of partial success, the court will distribute the payments appropriately or will decide that the parties are not entitled to compensation for legal fees. The successful party is thus able to enforce the right to compensation for all fees that were demonstrably used to gain effective law enforcement or defence, against the opposing party. These also fees include personal expenses, expenses for expert opinions, attorney’s charges, legal fees, and so on. An analogous regulation can be found also in the Act on Administrative Proceedings. The legal regulation does not include the notion of appropriate compensation. Compensation for injury can be established only by means of claim for damage. This, however, is possible only in case the applicant acted unlawfully or contra bonos mores, or in case he or she was engaged in unfair competition involving discrediting, in accordance with the wording of Section 50, the Commercial Code. By discrediting is to be understood any action through which a competitor provides or spreads false information about the situation, products and achievements of another competitor, if the information is able to cause any injury to another competitor. In case the action of the applicant could not be found unlawful or contra bonos mores, the enforcement of compensation would be difficult, since no damage in the legal sense occurred. In this particular case the law of the Slovak Republic does not correspond sufficiently with the TRIPS Agreement. The statistical data on the extent of the damages estimated by courts since 1 January 1996 is not available.