Article 1 - The Romanian State recognizes a transitional protection for owners of patents having priority before 21January 1991 in a State Member of the Paris Union for the Protection of Industrial Property or of the World Trade Organization for inventions having as subject-matter substances obtained by nuclear and chemical methods, pharmaceuticals, methods for diagnostic and medical treatment, disinfectants, food stuffs and spices and new plant varieties, bacteria and fungi strains, new animal breeds and silkworms.
Article 2 (1) - The transitional protection shall be granted upon request.
(2) - The term of protection shall start on the date on which an application is filed with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks and shall cease on the date on which the validity of the patent for invention expires, or on which the patent is cancelled or the date of forfeiture of the patent owner's rights, and shall not exceed 20 years of the date of the regular filing in the country of origin.
Article 3 - Transitional protection shall be granted provided that the following conditions are fulfilled cumulatively:
a) the invention is the object of a patent in force in a Member State of the Paris Union for the Protection of Industrial Property or of the World Trade Organization, having a priority date before 21 January 1991;
b) the subject matter of the invention has not been patented in Romania and belongs to the categories provided for in Article 1;
c) the product to which the patent for invention relates has not been marketed in Romania before 31 December 1993;
d) the application for the grant of transitional protection was filed within a six-month period of the date on which this Law entered into force.
Article 4 (1) - The application for the grant of transitional protection, drafted in Romanian, shall be filed with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks, through an authorized mandatary and shall comprise:
a) the express request for transitional protection;
b) the name or denomination, address/business office and signature of the reference patent owner;
c) the number of the patent of reference and the title of the invention, its term of validity and the country where it was issued.
(2) - The following shall be attached to the application for transitional protection:
a) a copy of the patent of reference;
b) a translation into Romanian of the patent of reference; c) a proof from the office that issued the patent of reference, attesting its validity;
d) the patent owner's authentic statement that the product to which the patented invention relates has not been marketed in Romania before 31 December 1993;
e) the authorized mandatary's power of attorney.
Article 8 - On the date this Law enters into force, the Government Ordinance on transitional protection of patents for inventions No. 25 of 30 January 1998, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 41 of 30 January 1998, shall be abrogated.