PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
The newly emerging Central and Eastern European nations are in the process of transformation from a state planned economy into a market economy. To do this they need to change first their proprietary regimes, from state-owned or socially-owned (in the countries of former Yugoslavia) into private ownership with known owners (the process of privatization). Expected positive effects from the change of ownership structure are: improvement of economic efficiency, increased social competitiveness and reduced burden on budget. Cited effects are important, not only for revival of industrial production, which is greatly decreasing in all these countries, but also for the development of political democracy. It is important to state that conditions in which changes have been taking place are different in each country. So, it is not possible to apply one unique model for fast and successful transformation in all these countries=The war has been waging in the territories of some newly independent republics of the former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union. The Republic of Croatia suffered and still suffers from the destruction of war: damage measured in thousands of millions of US dollars. The presence of the war on and near the occupied territory of the Republic of Croatia is the reason why many foreign investors do not come to Croatia, although Croatia has great industrial and tourist capacities and up to now it has made much progress in the field of privatization. The situation in the Republic of Bosnia & Herzegovina is much worse. In this republic of former Yugoslavia people mostly deal with problems of survival. Russia is also in a major political turmoil. The most complex and rapid process of transformation is going on in the former East Germany because of the great support of the former West Germany and because of the existence of the tradition of the western market economy. In addition, there are present in Germany all the institutions which monitor the market economy and the professional support which enables the fast transformation of the whole economic system. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech and SIovak Republics have been making maximum efforts to sanitize negative tendencies
of the former unproductive system by using professional services from western countries. These services help produce the necessary conditions and there are real expectations that the process of privatization will end in these countries in acceptable terms. In spite of many difficulties in their way towards the European Community, cited countries and the Republic of Slovenia are already members of the European Council and theyhave a chance to be included in the European Community before all the other countries of the former Eastern Block, all of which also want this inclusion as soon as possible. What is common in all these countries is the process of privatization~ This process is under the control of the state institutions. All countries tried to introduce privatization so that, in the first place, the employees in state-owned or socially-owned enterprises would have some advantages and discounts in purchasing enterprises, because the purchasing power of the greater part of the population in these countries has been very low. At the same time they wanted to attract foreign capital with special regulations, particularly in the field of tax policy. The results achieved so far, in all mentioned countries have shown that there are no problems with privatization of small enterprises. The problems arise when it comes to the privatization of huge state-owned enterprises, especially in the Czech and Slovak Republics and in the former Soviet Union where there are many such enterprises. So they applied a 'voucher scheme' - the uniform distribution of socalled 'investment coupons' to all citizens over 18 years old; but the result is that in Russia these vouchers are being sold in streets and subways. Also all countries have made efforts to eliminate the bad results of the privatization process by changing regulations, as they would otherwise create insecurity on the part of the foreign investors. Perhaps people in these countries are disappointed, because they expected more financial support from developed countries and easier and faster inclusion into the European Community. This was, in my opinion, too naive, because developed countries have their own problems and the European Community requires definite conditions to be fulfilled before including a country in the Community. Some assessments show that Poland, Hungary, and the Czech and SIovak Republics, have the greatest chance to be included first and may become members of the European Community in 10 years or so. This is the reason why there are some suggestions that countries in Central and Eastern Europe should create their own Economic Community. Some think that this could help them for faster inclusion into the European Community, but others think this could slow down their process of transformation. In practice some of these countries started to prepare some bilateral and multilateral treaties. For instance, the Republic of Croatia is in negotiation with the Republic of Slovenia, Poland and Hungary on mutual annulment of customs barriers. The Republic of Slovenia and some other countries are in the same negotiations.
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T~-~{:ICON/PU~'E~{ LAW AND S~:.~(IJR{TYREPOt{l"
In spite of the above-mentioned, all countries from the former Eastern Block want inclusion into the 'world' of developed countries as soon as possible. They are aware that in this way, one of the most important steps is to have an appropriate legal system. So, they need to implement many generally accepted legal standards into their legal systems. Among other fields they have to do this in the field of intellectual property law. So a short report now follows identifying the protection of intellectual property law in some of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
REPUBLIC OF CROATIA In June 1991 announcing its "Declaration of Independence and Sovereignty '1, the Republic of Croatia adopted Yugoslavian legislation and now applies much of this former federal legislation within its own acts. It has also done that with Yugoslav Copyright Act, applying it as its own Act. This Copyright Act had been in force throughout former Yugoslavia since 1978. The Amendment of 11 April 1990 included computer programs expressly among copyrightable works by adding programs to the list of examples of copyright works. Now there are proposals for bringing in a new Copyright Act or an amendment of the existing Copyright Act. One of the most important reasons for that is an intention to increase penalties for infringing the copyright, moral and property rights. In particular, the existing legal fines are too low and they must be increased as soon as possible. Terms of imprisonment also have to be increased, because according to existing legal provisions, the maximum imprisonment may be three years. Now it is proposed to increase this penalty to five years. In December 1991, the Republic of Croatia also brought in an Act on the Making and Realization of International Treaties. Article 33 of this Act provides that international treaties, adopted by former Yugoslavia, be applied in the Republic of Croatia, unless they are in conflict with the Croatian Constitution and the Croatian legal system, on the basis of international law regulations on the succession of states regarding international treaties. This means that in the area of intellectual property law, the Republic of Croatia will apply, among others: the Berne Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC), the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, because the former Yugoslavia was a member of these conventions. It is also important to say that from last year the Republic of Croatia became a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). In addition, since 22 January 1993 the Republic of Croatia has an anti-piracy association, named Croatian Association for Software Technologies (HRAST). The headquarters of this Association are in Zagreb, Strossmayer Square 4. At the beginning of May it commenced an agreement cooperation with the Software Publishers Association Europe. CZECH AND SLOVAK REPUBLICS The new Czech and Slovak Republics have adopted the former
{i9931 9 (:I.SR
Czechoslovak intellectual property legislation, including the Copyright ACt, without any changes. Since 1 June 1990 computer programs are explicitly protected by copyright under a 1990 Amendment to the Czechoslovak Copyright ACt which added computer programs to the list of protectable works. In 1991 (when the Czech and Slovak Republics were still one state) Czechoslovakia entered into an Interim Agreement with the European Economic Community under which it agreed to provide a level of protection similar to that existing in the EEC for trademarks, semiconductor products and computer programs, within five years from the day the Treaty entered into force. In accordance with that, the Czech Republic is already preparing an amendment to the Copyright Act to implement EC copyright legislation, including the EC Software Directive. This amendment will probably expressly include databases in the list of copyrightable works. Aura-Pont Agency is the anti-piracy association in the Czech Republic with headquarters in Prague, Truhlarska 13. Bringing in the law on the Protection of Topographies of Semiconductor Products on 3 December 1991, Czechoslovakia also enacted a new law on the protection of semiconductor products. Czechoslovakia was a signatory of both the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions and of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. This means that the new Czech and Slovak Republics will apply these conventions on the basis of international law regulations on the succession of states regarding international treaties.
HUNGARY In 1983 the Minister of Culture amended the Implementing Decree of the Hungarian Copyright Act to include computer programs and its related documentation in the enumeration of protected works. In the process of modernizing its copyright protection, Hungary expressly extended this protection to electronic databases. Hungary has also an Interim Agreement with the European Economic Community under which it agreed to provide a level of protection similar to that existing in the EEC for trademarks, topographies, semiconductor products and computer programs within five years from the December 1991 Agreement. Semiconductors are protected under the 1991 Act on the Protection of the Topography of Microelectronic SemiConductor Products. INTERCODE Software Agency in Budapest, Csalogany u 6-10, 11/66 is the anti-piracy association in Hungary. Hungary belongs to the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions and to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. POLAND To enable the transition to a market economy, Poland is in the process of modernizing its intellectual property legislation. Since Poland also recently entered into an Interim Agreement with the European Economic Community under which it agreed to provide a level of protection similar to that existing in the EEC for trademarks, semiconductor products and computer programs, new copyright legislation for computer software is being prepared, because current copyright law has no
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adequate protection for computer software. New legislation to protect semiconductors is also being prepared.
anti-piracy amendment to the copyright law prohibiting the unauthorized use of audiovisual works.
PRO (Polish Software Market Association) in Warsaw, ul. Pruszkowska 17 (Vlllp.) is the Polish anti-piracy association.
JUSAUTOR Bulgarian
Poland is a member of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
in Sophia, 17 Ernst Thaelmann anti-piracy association.
Blvd,
is the
Bulgaria is a member of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
CONCLUSION
BULGARIA
It is clear that the process of transition will last much longer in all the countries within the former Eastern Block and be more painful than these countries have either wanted or expected. Perhaps they need to turn more to themselves, to rely much more on their own abilities and to cooperate with each other in this process. So, they must work hard and steadily on domestic reforms of their economic, legal and political systems. The prize for such efforts could be a more effective and speedy response from the developed countries in support of these developments.
Bulgaria has also made efforts to amend its laws in the area of intellectual property. Copyright protection was improved by an
Nelka
ROMANIA
Since the Romanian constitution, adopted in 1992, officially commits the nation to a market economy, Romanian Acts in the area of intellectual property law have had to be amended. Computer programs and databases are expected to be covered by the new copyright law. Romania is a member of the Berne Convention and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
Fikeys
Krmic,
LL.M., Report Correspondent, Zagreb
BOOK REVIEW !i!i~ii
iiiiiii!
COMPETITION IN ELECTRONICS Competing in the Electronics Industry - The Experience of Newly Industrialising Economies, by Dieta Ernst and David O'Connor, 1992, Soft-cover (OECD), 303 p, FF180, ISBN 9264136509
This book draws together research undertaken by the OECD Development Centre on 'Technological Change in the Electronics Sector - Perspectives and Policy Options for Newly Industrialising Economies'. The aim of the project was to analyse how technological change and the globalization of competition affect barriers to entry and what these imply for developing strategies and government policies in the newly industrializing economies. The preface notes that competition in the industry is shaped primarily by 'strategic games' among the leading companies or coalitions of firms, which position themselves so as to discourage or dictate the actions and responses of their current and potential competitors. These games are played on different levels where cooperation often goes hand in hand with intense competition, and where governments play an increasingly important role. The study focuses on four country groupings of newly industrializing economies
(NIEs). The first tier, Asian NIEs include Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan; the second tier, that of Malaysia, Thailand, indonesia and the Philippines; the quasi-continental NIEs of Asia are China and India and the :::: large Latin American NIEs are Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. The book contains a comparative assessment of how these NIEs differ in terms of their competitive strengths and weaknesses in different sectors. It also examines what changes in strategies and government policies are required today to cope with one of the largest industries in the world economy that continues to grow faster than most other sectors. The study concludes that technology cannot substitute for basic economic and social reform, without i ~i i i which sustainable industrialization will not occur. Technologies can, at best, act as potential complements to such basic transformations of social institutions, but governments must craft sound macroeconomic policies and muster the political will to implement them. Available ~:~i~ from OECD Publications, Paris, Cedex 16, France.
2 rue Andr~
Pascal,
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