CROATIA

Summary:

State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia
Project Phare 2006 “Strengthening the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” - HR2006/018-113/
ip4inno
CARDS 2001: Intellectual property rights - training for judges and public prosecutors in enforcement
Awareness-enforcement campaign “The BSA is in your city too” (”BSA je i u vašem gradu”)

Title of initiative	State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia
1. General presentation
1.1 Overview
The State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia (hereafter referred to as’ the Office’) is the State administrative body with responsibilitiy for the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). The Office carries out procedures for granting industrial property rights and performs the accompanying professional and legislative activity. In addition, a significant part of the Office activities involves the provision of information and services relating to intellectual property, co-operation with other institutions on the enforcement of intellectual property rights and support of innovation activity. The Office provides professional IP and related information and analysis through its Information Centre for Intellectual Property Rights (INCENTIV). INCENTIV is a public information-service, providing professional information assistance to all who want to protect, utilise or manage intellectual property effectively. They can access professional information free of charge on how to protect IPR, how to legitimately utilise the rights of others and avoid infringement. INCENTIV may be visited directly at its premises or be contacted by phone or e-mail. The Office provides search services of available industrial property information (searching information concerning patents, trademarks and industrial designs in the relevant databases). Various types of searches depending on the type of industrial property are available. The services are performed by well-qualified and experienced SIPO professionals, at an advantageous fee. Public access, free of charge, to a database containing published information about registered IPR in Croatia is also available and provided through the Internet services of the Office. The Office also carries out promotional and educational activities on raising awareness and knowledge about the protection and use of IP in the domestic environment, and ensures appropriate regional coverage.
1.2 Sector focus	Sector: No specific sector
1.3 Institution (managing initiative)	State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia
2. Detailed Information
2.1 Start date	INCENTIV established in January 2008.
2.2 End date	-
2.3 Budget
2.4 Type of initiative	Initial Information & Signposting Dedicated Information Provision Dedicated Services Professional Advice Training International Liaison & Actions by Business Organisations Funding & Evaluation Public Access & Co-ordination Measures Other (specify):
2.5 Type of IPR	All IPR Industrial Property Inventions : Patents Utility Models Plant Varieties Topographies of Semiconductor Products Distinctive Signs : Trade Marks Trade Names Geographical Indications, Designations of Origin Aesthetic Creations: Designs (industrial design) Intellectual Property Literary, Scientific, Artistic Creations : Copyright Neighbouring Rights Rights in Common Law, Tort, Competition Law etc. Trade Secrets, Licensing & Confidentiality Agreements
2.6 Stage in Enforcement Process	All Stages Registration Business Planning / Strategy Investigations Administrative Procedures Litigation Other (specify):
3. Evaluation of Initiative
3.1 Overall appraisal	Very successful - based on the customer feedback
4. Further Information
4.1 Document References
4.2 Web Site	http://www.dziv.hr
4.3 Contacts	State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia INCENTIV Ulica grada Vukovara 78 10000 Zagreb - Croatia Tel: (+385 1) 6109 825, Fax: (+385 1) 6112 017 E-mail: info@dziv.hr Contact person: Marica Mlinac Mišak
4.4 Information Source	IPR Enforcement Support Expert Group

Title of initiative	Project Phare 2006 “Strengthening the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” - HR2006/018-113/4/1
1. General presentation
1.1 Overview
The overall objective of the Phare 2006 project “Strengthening the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” is to assure that the level of protection of intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights is in line with the EU standards, thus meeting internal market requirements. The project’s purpose is to strengthen the administrative capacity of the State Intellectual Property Office, the Ministry of Justice - Judicial Academy, the Ministry of the Interior, the Customs Administration and the State Inspectorate in effectively enforcing intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights. The components of the project are: institution building, legal/regulatory framework, capacity building, and establishment of the IPR Information Centre. The Danish Patent Office is the twinning partner.
1.2 Sector focus	Sector: No specific sector
1.3 Institution (managing initiative)	SIPO coordinates project, and others are beneficiary institutions
2. Detailed Information
2.1 Start date	December 2008
2.2 End date	November 2010
2.3 Budget	€1.63 million
2.4 Type of initiative	Initial Information & Signposting Dedicated Information Provision Dedicated Services Professional Advice Training International Liaison & Actions by Business Organisations Funding & Evaluation Public Access & Co-ordination Measures Other (specify): Related technical equipment
2.5 Type of IPR	All IPR Industrial Property Inventions : Patents Utility Models Plant Varieties Topographies of Semiconductor Products Distinctive Signs : Trade Marks Trade Names Geographical Indications, Designations of Origin Aesthetic Creations: Designs (industrial design) Intellectual Property Literary, Scientific, Artistic Creations : Copyright Neighbouring Rights Rights in Common Law, Tort, Competition Law etc. Trade Secrets, Licensing & Confidentiality Agreements
2.6 Stage in Enforcement Process	All Stages Registration Business Planning / Strategy Investigations Administrative Procedures Litigation Other (specify):
3. Evaluation of Initiative
3.1 Overall appraisal	N/A
4. Further Information
4.1 Document References
4.2 Web Site	www.strategija.hr/Default.aspx?sec=35
4.3 Contacts	Ljerka Golubić Bregant Head of the Project Implementation Unit Ulica grada Vukovara 78 10000 Zagreb - Croatia Tel.+385 1 6106 400 Fax:+385 1 6109 660
4.4 Information Source	SIPO Project Implementation Unit – IPR Enforcement Support Expert Group

Title of initiative	ip4inno
1. General presentation
1.1 Overview
The project ip4inno is co-funded by the EU (FP6) and 19 partners from EU Member States and candidate states. The main aim of ip4inno is to increase understanding and usage of intellectual property (IP) by SMEs, with a view to increasing innovation and competitiveness in line with the Lisbon goals.
1.2 Sector focus	Sector: No specific sector
1.3 Institution (managing initiative)	State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia (country coordinator)
2. Detailed Information
2.1 Start date	January 2007
2.2 End date	December 2008
2.3 Budget	€4 million
2.4 Type of initiative	Initial Information & Signposting Dedicated Information Provision Dedicated Services Professional Advice Training International Liaison & Actions by Business Organisations Funding & Evaluation Public Access & Co-ordination Measures Other (specify):
2.5 Type of IPR	All IPR Industrial Property Inventions : Patents Utility Models Plant Varieties Topographies of Semiconductor Products Distinctive Signs : Trade Marks Trade Names Geographical Indications, Designations of Origin Aesthetic Creations: Designs (industrial design) Intellectual Property Literary, Scientific, Artistic Creations : Copyright Neighbouring Rights Rights in Common Law, Tort, Competition Law etc. Trade Secrets, Licensing & Confidentiality Agreements
2.6 Stage in Enforcement Process	All Stages Registration Business Planning / Strategy Investigations Administrative Procedures Litigation Other (specify):
3. Evaluation of Initiative
3.1 Overall appraisal	N/A
4. Further Information
4.1 Document References	-
4.2 Web Site	www.ip4inno.eu
4.3 Contacts	State Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Croatia Ljerka Golubić Bregant Ljerka.bregant@dziv.hr
4.4 Information Source	IPR Enforcement Support Expert Group

Title of initiative		CARDS 2001: Intellectual property rights - training for judges and public prosecutors in enforcement of intellectual property rights in Croatia (May 2005)
1. General presentation
1.1 Overview
Within the EU technical pre-accession assistance programme to the Republic of Croatia Intellectual Property Rights project, the Judicial Academy developed and delivered a number of initial IP training modules for target groups that are currently considered to be the most significant for IPR enforcement. The methodology is case-based training, delivered by specially trained judges and public prosecutors. The initiative consisted of 9 training programmes with 9 different modules delivered as seminars/workshops for judges and public prosecutors in criminal, civil and misdemeanour procedures. The training took place in the County Court in Zagreb, in May 2005, The training modules were divided into three parts: Modules relating to criminal law : 1. Enforcement of patent protection in criminal law matters 2. Enforcement of protection of copyrights and neighbouring rights in criminal law matters 3. Enforcement of protection of copyrights and neighbouring rights in digital surroundings Modules relating to law of misdemeanour : 1. Enforcement of patent protection in law of misdemeanour matters 2. Enforcement of protection of copyrights and neighbouring rights in law of misdemeanour matters 3. Industrial property – misdemeanours Modules relating to civil law : 1. Enforcement of patent protection in civil law matters 2. Enforcement of protection of copyright and neighbouring rights in civil law matters 3. Protection of industrial property in civil law matters These modules are planned to become part of the regular training programme of the Judicial Academy.
1.2 Sector focus		Sector: No specific sector
1.3 Institution (managing initiative)		Judicial Academy of Ministry of Justice in Republic of Croatia, State Intellectual Property Office and the German Institution “Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit”(GTZ GmbH)
2. Detailed Information
2.1 Start date		1 ^st June 2003
2.2 End date		30 ^th September 2005
2.3 Budget		Total project budget €1,8 million
2.4 Type of initiative		Initial Information & Signposting Dedicated Information Provision Dedicated Services Professional Advice Training: Specialised training activities for criminal, civil and misdemeanour judges, but also other enforcement bodies – police and public prosecution offices. International Liaison & Actions by Business Organisations Funding & Evaluation Public Access & Co-ordination Measures Other (specify):
2.5 Type of IPR		All IPR Industrial Property Inventions : Patents Utility Models Plant Varieties Topographies of Semiconductor Products Distinctive Signs : Trade Marks Trade Names Geographical Indications, Designations of Origin Aesthetic Creations: Designs (industrial design) Intellectual Property Literary, Scientific, Artistic Creations : Copyright Neighbouring Rights Rights in Common Law, Tort, Competition Law etc. Trade Secrets, Licensing & Confidentiality Agreements
2.6 Stage in Enforcement Process		All Stages Registration Business Planning / Strategy Investigations Administrative Procedures Litigation Other (specify):
3. Evaluation of Initiative
3.1 Overall appraisal
4. Further Information
4.1 Document References		Report “A General Approach (Grand Design) to Training of Judges and other Enforcement Bodies in Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Croatia”
4.2 Web Site		www.pak.hr
4.3 Contacts		Judicial Academy of Ministry of Justice Heinzelova 4a 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
4.4 Information Source		IPR Enforcement Support Expert Group

Title of initiative	Awareness-enforcement campaign “The BSA is in your city too” (”BSA je i u vašem gradu”)
1. General presentation
1.1 Overview
In the past 12 months the Business Software Alliance (BSA) conducted three regional awareness/enforcement campaigns named “The BSA is in your city too” aiming to promote software asset management. The first campaign started in the region of Dalmatia in September 2007, the second one in Zagreb and Zagreb County - in November 2007, and the third campaign is still pending in Istria and Primorje since March 2008. The major new feature of this series of campaigns is that the BSA local support team has a task of visiting companies in the target regions and personally presenting to their management an outline of the benefits of licensed software usage, together with advice on the security, business, financial and legal risks of using unlicensed software. The campaigns included a direct mailing to all companies in the targeted regions employing over three persons and an extensive marketing campaign communicated through newspaper and radio ads, and promotional cars. The enforcement part of the campaigns includes sending audit letters to dozens of companies suspected of using unlicensed software, inviting them to conduct internal software audits and legalise their activities voluntarily. The BSA filed several referrals with the State Inspectorate of the Republic of Croatia against companies reported for software piracy,
1.2 Sector focus	Sector: Business Software End-Users No specific sector
1.3 Institution (managing initiative)	Business Software Alliance (BSA)
2. Detailed Information
2.1 Start date	September 2007
2.2 End date	July 2008
2.3 Budget	-
2.4 Type of initiative	Initial Information & Signposting: Dedicated Information Provision: BSA marketing materials, such as SAM Brochure, template company software policy, software and hardware inventory form, etc. Dedicated Services Professional Advice Training Informal one-to-one discussion International Liaison & Actions by Business Organisations Funding & Evaluation Public Access & Co-ordination Measures Other (specify):
2.5 Type of IPR	All IPR Industrial Property Inventions : Patents Utility Models Plant Varieties Topographies of Semiconductor Products Distinctive Signs : Trade Marks Trade Names Geographical Indications, Designations of Origin Aesthetic Creations: Designs (industrial design) Intellectual Property Literary, Scientific, Artistic Creations : Copyright Neighbouring Rights Rights in Common Law, Tort, Competition Law etc. Trade Secrets, Licensing & Confidentiality Agreements
2.6 Stage in Enforcement Process	All Stages Registration Business Planning / Strategy Investigations Administrative Procedures Litigation Other (specify): awareness campaign
3. Evaluation of Initiative
3.1 Overall appraisal	Successful awareness campaigns: approx 90% of the companies visited by the BSA support team within the Istria campaign and 76% within the Zagreb campaign gave positive feedback and found this kind of support helpful.
4. Further Information
4.1 Document References	Press releases
4.2 Web Site	http://www.bsa.org/hrvatska
4.3 Contacts	BSA Europe, Georg Herrnleben, Director Central & Eastern Europe Mladen Vukmir, BSA spokesman in Croatia 0800 32 32 32 infocroatia@bsa.org
4.4 Information Source	SIPO survey/enquiry IPR Enforcement Support Expert Group

Innovaccess is a constituent part of the IP Awareness and Enforcement: Modular Based Actions for SMEs project (IPeuropAware) 
which is co-financed by the CIP Programme, DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission