We are pleased to announce that this year’s recipient of the Hungarian Trademark Culture Award, established by the Hungarian Trademark Association, is our colleague Erika Szép, former Head of the Trademark Department of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office.

The award is presented annually to intellectual property professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of trademark law and the promotion of trademark culture.

Erika received this prestigious recognition at a ceremonial event held during the Annual General Meeting of the Hungarian Trademark Association on 19 May 2026.

The post Hungarian Trademark Culture Award appeared first on Danubia.

We are proud to share that at the Managing IP Awards 2026 EMEA in London, Danubia received the „Hungary Firm of the Year” award.

In addition, Danubia was also recognised as part of the international Astellas team receiving the „Europe Cross-border Patent Litigation Team of the Year” award for the Xtandi matter.

These recognitions reflect the trust of our clients, the strength of long-term international cooperation, and the dedication of our entire team across patent litigation, prosecution and IP advisory work.

The awards ceremony was attended on behalf of Danubia by Miklós Sóvári.

We are grateful to our Clients, Colleagues and international Partners for the cooperation and confidence that made these achievements possible.

The post International Award for Danubia: “Hungary Firm of the Year” – Managing IP Awards 2026 EMEA appeared first on Danubia.

Résumés

Miklós Sóvári
Deputy Managing Partner, Lawyer, Registered European- and Hungarian Patent Attorney
Partner

Miklós Sóvári, founding partner and member of the managing board at DANUBIA Patent and Law Office LLC, has substantial knowledge and experience in prosecuting and enforcing national and International patents, trademarks and designs, licensing and competition law matters, and in the field of industrial property rights litigation and
enforcement.

He is a regular speaker at industrial property rights conferences in Hungary and internationally and has published several articles in prestigious international scientific journals at home and abroad. He is the author of the Hungarian chapter of Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in the EU Member States published in 2019.

Dóra Geyer-Hirt
attorney at law,
Biologist

Dóra Geyer-Hirt is an attorney at law, member of the Budapest Bar Association. She specializes in trademark law, patent law, and domain name proceedings. Dóra has several years of experience in Hungarian, EU, and international trademark registration, intellectual property protection, and domain name disputes. Dóra graduated as a lawyer from Pazmany Péter Catholic University in 2021 and obtained a degree in biology from the University of Szeged in 2025.

The post Actions against unlawful domain name registrations and use in Hungary appeared first on Danubia.

The Hungarian Intellectual Property Office  (HIPO) will be closed from 22nd December 2022 to 8th January 2023. HIPO will reopen on 9th January 2023.  The deadlines falling  into the closure period will be  extended in line with the length of the closure.

International trademarks and trademark applications, PCT procedures  form an exception, since WIPO deadlines will not be extended. If you have any international trade mark cases to deal with during the closure, please take into consideration that the deadline for Danubia to submit such request at the HIPO is  16th December 2022.

However, during HIPO’s closure one must act in the cases of filing validations, renewals, payment of annuities,  starting national phase of PCT applications  since the period of the administrative closure does not count towards the time limit for the administration of authority proceedings before the HIPO, including the time limit for the forwarding of applications for review to the courts.

The full text with  details can be found at the HIPO’s  web page at the following link:

https://www.sztnh.gov.hu/en/news/hirek/kozerdeku/government-administrative-recess-at-the-hipo

Please feel free to contact us about further details on the closure.

The post Holiday Closure appeared first on Danubia.

Innovation in vain

Let’s imagine that we are inventors developing a solution for years. We put lots of our money and physical effort into it, we also have had the invention patented but have no sufficient monetary resources to generate a product for commercialization using this new innovative solution. Innovation is wasted without finding a way to put it on the market.

95% of patented innovations never get to be used in new products, services to promote economic growth. It is not surprising that most of the patents are early abandoned because paying the maintenance fee is uneconomical without return earned through commercialization. It often happens, that a start-up successfully can apply for a few patents and finds investors but as they go out of financial resources they need to licence the patent out to someone else instead of doing the product development by themselves.

On the other hand, many scientific papers address the problem of wasted R&D resources due to duplicate developments, some of which could be spared by making better use of the scientific and technology results already available.

Connection between inventors and investors

Danubia IPMall gives the solution to this market problem. Major aim of the IP marketplace is to match patents, patented technologies with market demand. The main goal here is to serve as a bridge and to establish key contacts between holders of unused but presumably exploitable patents or other intellectual property rights and relevant market players.

The solution is also effective on the investor’s side: anyone can advertise the industry area and scientific topic they are looking for technology – e.g. a pharmaceutical manufacturer is currently looking for any licensable solution. So scientists developing a drug without having the appropriate financial resources for further research, could find their very own investor here.

Currently the service is free of charge and will remain so for a long time – for both patent holders and for companies searching for technologies or investors alike. Once the connection between supply and demand has been established, Danubia will assist the parties in negotiating and concluding the transaction by ensuring best market practices. We also hope that we will be honoured by our satisfied customers with confidence in further R&D and intellectual property management and utilization issues. DANUBIA as a group of companies consists of a patent office, a law firm, and an intellectual property utilization advisory company, therefore all the necessary expertise can be ensured in-house. All the accumulated multidisciplinary expertise and experience is offered for the good of our Clients via a “one-stop-shop” system.

There are already 50 patents available in the IP marketplace, either from individuals or from big companies such as MOL. Various patents from the area of biotechnology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, energy, construction and heavy industry, information and communication technology, agriculture and food, and the oil industry can be found in the IPMall for licensing.

The post Intellectual Property Marketplace Created in Hungary appeared first on Danubia.

European Court Procedure – a Practical Guide (Bloomsbury-Hart, Oxford, Viktor Luszcz)

Not only the subtitle says ’a Practical Guide’ but the whole concept was built around this statement. As to novelties, the book covers i.a. the case-law on the application of the EU General Court’s Rules of Procedure of 2015, the new Practice Rules of the General Court of 2018, as well as the recent changes brought by the new Practice Directions of the EU Court of Justice, in force as of 2020.

The new Rules of Procedure of the General Court of the EU, in force as of 2015, as well as the reform of the General Court and the re-establishment of a two-tier EU judiciary in September 2016 are the last bricks in the post-Lisbon legal structure governing litigation before the EU Courts. This work covers the already sizeable case-law developed after the completion of these reforms and explains the changes in the Courts’ practice entailed by them. Written by professionals having a combined experience of 70 years as référendaires at the EU Courts or members of the European Commission Legal Service, it gives a detailed and practice-oriented overview of the whole spectrum of litigation procedure before the EU judiciary.

The book presents the entire system of judicial avenues through which rights derived from EU law may be asserted against Member States, private parties and EU institutions, in case they breach EU law, as well as the procedural issues which are crucial from the point of view of the effective presentation or defence of a case.

Therefore, it not only provides detailed information on actions brought directly against EU institutions but also explains the division of cases and cooperation between the CJEU and national courts, pertaining to the effective enforcement of EU law before the latter.

The book is thus a comprehensive reference tool for practising lawyers and helps them present their cases effectively, while at the same time offering valuable guidance to national judges dealing with cases raising points of EU law. Moreover, it provides insights into the reasoning process of the EU Courts, which will be of interest to scholars in the field, and is built around a structure that facilitates its use as a teaching material.

Editor and co-author

The book’s editor is DANUBIA LEGAL partner Viktor Luszcz, who also authored 55% of the book’s text. He wrote, among others, the crucial chapter Action for Annulment, which covers competition, State aid and anti-dumping cases, as well as the chapter Intellectual Property Cases, which explains the review, by the General Court, of the EUIPO’s decisions in trademark matters.

Viktor spent eleven years at the General Court as a legal secretary, drafted 58 judgments in the fields of competition law, State aid, anti-dumping and EU trademarks, and contributed to over 300 more decisions. He is currently representing clients before the General Court in several trademark cases.

Online updates

This book is periodically updated by its authors on the www.courtprocedure.eu website, in order to follow the changes in the Statute, the Rules of Procedure, the Practice Directions and the Practice Rules of the EU Courts, as well as to present case law developments on judicial avenues, litigants’ rights and application of the procedural rules.

The book was published by Bloomsbury-Hart, Oxford and is available in print and digital formats: https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/european-court-procedure-9781841130538

DR. VIKTOR ŁUSZCZ LL.M.
Attorney at law
Partner

The post Comprehensive book on EU Court procedures published appeared first on Danubia.

The aim of this course is making a difference by providing insights into the Startup world for those who are interested in and nurture entrepreneurial spirit among students with strong technical backgrounds. During the course, students learn about how they can set up a startup on the back of an idea while they work in teams.

Guest speakers from different areas/disciplines are invited to ensure the opportunity to learn about every aspect of building a business. During these sessions we are aiming to answer questions like:

• How to evaluate startup ideas?
• What makes a team a dream team?
• What are the basics of a well-written business plan?
• What legal questions have to be considered?
• What are today’s business model patterns that are worth considering?
• and many more

The course was launched by Helga Reguly and Márti Mits.

Both Helga and Márti did Molecular Bionics Engineering at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. In the meantime, Helga was a student at the University of Oxford for a semester where she joined a research project.
They both did the ESTEEM Program at the University of Notre Dame, which is an entrepreneurship and innovation program for students with STEM background.
Now Helga is a PhD candidate at the Central European University while Márti participates in a rotational program at Ericsson, where she works as a Portfolio Manager.
They launched the course together last September, now Helga spends time with her little kids and Márti continues managing the course.

Helga Reguly

Márti Mits

Márti and Helga truly believe that they can motivate students to be changemakers.

In one of the classes we talked about legal questions, and topics related to the startup ecosystem were also brought up. While we think inspiring and motivating students are very important, it has also a great significance to let them know what they should be aware of if they are preparing for this journey.

In December, Dr. István Molnár and Márti talked about the questions below as part of a course session.

Dr. István Molnár graduated first as a research chemist in 1998 and then as a lawyer specialising in European Union law in 2001 from the University of Szeged. He went on to obtain his doctorate from the Doctoral School of Law and Political Sciences at the same university. He has been working as a patent attorney and partner at Danubia Patent and Law Office since 2000. In 2012 he became the Managing Director of Danubia IP. István has considerable expertise in industrial property rights protection, most notably in the field of patent- and trademark law, in addition to which he has gained substantial experience in innovation consulting for startup enterprises, innovation management and technology transfer.

Our aim with this article is to provide those insights for anyone for whom it might be helpful and relevant.

1. What are you sure to tell the enthusiastic engineering students here who are thinking about starting a business and what could be helpful to hear at the very beginning of their journey?

The most important ability is the ability to get out, to exit. He who cannot exit, will be ruined, financially, mentally, physically. There is too much psychological stress to endure in a startup in case of constant failures. If we have set an exit condition, it must be complied with even if there is an investor offer the very next day. Because everything will come “tomorrow”, and the money will run out today.

Never put private property, or money set aside for retirement, into your own ideas or the ideas of others. I’ve seen people becoming poor because of this.

Don’t cultivate an overly intimate relationship with the project, be able to break away from it.

If you are a real start-upper, then after exit, whether it was successful or not, you will start a new project if you can. But it’s a matter of self-knowledge and self-reflection whether you realize what you really are. 

2. What illusions do you think should be dispelled among those who want to launch a startup?

Being a start-upper is the same vocation as others, not an award to a genius. And this vocation comes with a decent salary. Not too little, not too much, but a consideration of your work, and not a success fee.

Anyone who just starts implementing an innovative idea because they want to be a millionaire quickly is better getting off before they start.

Startup financing has its conventionally developed sources and stages. This money must be spent, it must be well spent, it must not be saved unnecessarily, but it must not be spent unnecessarily. The investor contribution to a given stage is precisely determined by the market, it is not more than it should be, it is sometimes less, but the reason is that the investor’s decision makers have made a mistake in the due diligence. This must be recognized by the start-upper and such an offer must be rejected. But ‘big money‘ should not be expected from an investor; what we receive has a place and there is no place for luxury.

If the business becomes a truly successful company producing for a global market, by then the start-upper, the entrepreneur, has gradually lost control of the company. This is the price of investor help, and the business rules of innovation.

3. What differences do you see between today’s startup managers and ’old‘ startup managers?

When we talk about ’old‘ and ’modern‘ start-uppers, we must place ourselves to Europe, more precisely to Eastern Europe. Here the startup movement started later than in the US, and very importantly, the sources partly come from the governments or the EU – unlike in the US, where almost everything comes from private venture capitalists. In the US the government orders mainly military, or today, health innovations, but does not invest in it. In the EU, the venture capital investment is not that integrated in other investment markets as in the US, so the governments must enter the game. Therefore, the efficacy of the spending is compromised. Sometimes they ’must’ invest, they ‘must’ exit with profits, and the government tends to impose unachievable security provisions, and shift the risk totally to the start-upper. So much about the environment.

The old-fashioned start-upper is a ’renaissance’ guy; he is 1. a university professor; 2. an inventor; 3. a project manager; 4. a communicator; 5. a private undertaker; 6. a freelance at his own risk, etc. This is what he believes of himself. As a matter of fact, he is only a university professor, and the invention he has filed in his own name is, on one hand, only a result of basic research, on the other hand should belong to the university. He is a nice speaker at the university lectures, but he is a poor communicator, even a poorer negotiator. In fact, he does not even take the risk: he failed to give up the university cathedra, so receives a good professor salary. Therefore, he is not forced to go after the business, it can wait ‘until the exam term’. Finally, he is desperately overloaded, and has no focus. What makes these businesses survive is the public money.

The new-wave start-upper comes from a wealthy family. In his thirties, he still receives significant – often financial – support and has no livelihood problems at all, he is able to focus on self-realization. Self-realization is the guiding principle of his life. He received a very serious family motivation; he was raised in a liberal approach, in an entrepreneurial spirit, his initiatives were always given space, a critical approach was developed in him. His father may be a professor at the very university where he was a PhD; for this reason, the myth of the professorial profession does not press him at all and he does not feel a huge loss when he finally leaves the university to start his first startup. He does not even know why public funding should be involved. He may still get the first round of investment from home, but the second round may already come from Silicon Valley. His approach is global, he is a good communicator, he is a good negotiator, he can manage money (he also learned this at home). The jackpot approach does not characterise him at all. He is not bound to anything too much, but mostly not to the project; if he fails, he starts a new one. Authentic figure with strong charisma.

4. What are the traits and attitudes that make a starter successful?

Some comparison of the abilities of a) a successful employed engineer; b) a manager; c) a conventional private undertaker; d) a genius/inventor. This is completely arbitrary, based on my impressions!

5. How do you see, who the winners and possibly the losers of the current startup ecosystem are?

The winners have a strong focus and vision. Everything is subordinated to the project. They have an extensive knowledge of the market. Money, for various reasons, is not a priority for them, but when they have it, it is always handled very carefully. They always know that intellectual property gives value to their company, and therefore, they have a very thorough knowledge of the function and dynamics of intellectual property law. Their phones have a large red button labelled “exit,” and as soon as a pre-recorded condition occurs, the button is pressed irreversibly. At the same time, they have good professional embeddedness, good relationships, trust in their experts and people in general.

The losers outweigh market trends. They disclose a new COVID test and they make it immediately available to the press. Their invention is secretly taken out of the university and patented with their own money, but they can’t spend it on a good professional, so the protection can be gone around, and it’s worth nothing. If they consult a professional, they are worried about a lack of resources and are always forced to choose a compromise solution. They only have one project that they stick to the end. They don’t have the patience to build relationships, and they don’t really trust anyone.

6. Who might start with a disadvantage in some way (for example, no family or financial background), how do you think, to overcome/reduce this disadvantage?

It is difficult to answer this question. I mentioned four different aspects. Three of them can be developed. The knowledge and skill element may require some time after graduation from the university. The time may be reduced, if you have a strong focus already in the university years. If you spend some years in company environment, you may get useful information about the market rules of the sector. As years go by, the family advantages can be replaced by the benefits of a company culture. Finally, self-reflection, and charisma is a  psychological issue. Probably, if you are not perfectly sure, you may consult a professional psychologist – both in deciding if you can be a start-upper at all, and in developing a personality needed to take up this profession.

The post How to set up a startup based on an idea? – Introduction to Startup Innovation Course appeared first on Danubia.

Fees charged by the EPO as an international authority, with the exception of protest fee, as well as fees for designation of extension and validation states remain unchanged.

Decisions regarding the revision of the EPO fees can be downloaded from here:

https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/2020/01/a3/2020-a3.pdf

and here:

https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/2020/01/a6/2020-a6.pdf

Information on the fees of the EPO is available here:

https://www.epo.org/applying/fees.html.

If you have any further question in this regard please let us know.

The post The European Patent Office (EPO) updated the fees appeared first on Danubia.

Tájékoztatjuk tisztelt ügyfeleinket és partnereinket, hogy a COVID-19 vírus következtében kialakult veszélyhelyzetre tekintettel az alábbiak szerint változik meg a hazai bíróságok, az SZTNH, az EPO, az EUIPO és a WIPO előtti ügymenet.

Bíróságok

https://jogaszvilag.hu/cimke/birosagi-tavmeghallgatasi-rendszer/

Az Európai Unió Bírósága Covid19 – Információk

https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1_3013071/hu/

A Szellemi Tulajdon Nemzeti Hivatala (SZTNH)

Az SZTNH vonatkozó közleménye itt olvasható:

https://www.sztnh.gov.hu/sites/default/files/20200317-sztnh-covid-intezkedesek-v3.pdf

https://www.sztnh.gov.hu/hu/hirek/sztnh-hirek/szakmai-es-hatosagi-kozlemenyek/tajekoztato-az-sztnh-elott-folyamatban-levo

Európai Szabadalmi Hivatal (EPO)

Az EPO folyamatosan frissülő vonatkozó hivatalos bejelentései itt érhetők el:

https://www.epo.org/news-issues/covid-19.html

Az Európai Unió Szellemi Tulajdoni Hivatala (EUIPO)

Hivatalos információk itt érhetők el:

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/hu/covid-19-information

https://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/contentPdfs/law_and_practice/decisions_president/EX-20-03_en.pdf

A Szellemi Tulajdon Világszervezete (WIPO)

További, rendszeresen frissülő vonatkozó információk itt találhatók:

https://www.wipo.int/covid19-policy-tracker/#/covid19-policy-tracker/ipo-operations

https://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/news/2020/news_0007.html

A fentiekkel kapcsolatos bármilyen kérdéssel kérjük forduljon irodánkhoz, készséggel állunk rendelkezésére!

The post Tájékoztató a bíróságok és szellemitulajdon-védelmi hatóságok előtti ügymenet COVID-19 járvány miatt bevezetett változásairól appeared first on Danubia.

Tájékoztatjuk tisztelt ügyfeleinket és partnereinket, hogy a COVID-19 vírus következtében kialakult veszélyhelyzetre tekintettel az alábbiak szerint változik meg a hazai bíróságok, az SZTNH, az EPO, az EUIPO és a WIPO előtti ügymenet.

Bíróságok

https://jogaszvilag.hu/cimke/birosagi-tavmeghallgatasi-rendszer/

Az Európai Unió Bírósága Covid19 – Információk

https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1_3013071/hu/

A Szellemi Tulajdon Nemzeti Hivatala (SZTNH)

Az SZTNH vonatkozó közleménye itt olvasható:

https://www.sztnh.gov.hu/sites/default/files/20200317-sztnh-covid-intezkedesek-v3.pdf

https://www.sztnh.gov.hu/hu/hirek/sztnh-hirek/szakmai-es-hatosagi-kozlemenyek/tajekoztato-az-sztnh-elott-folyamatban-levo

Európai Szabadalmi Hivatal (EPO)

Az EPO folyamatosan frissülő vonatkozó hivatalos bejelentései itt érhetők el:

https://www.epo.org/news-issues/covid-19.html

Az Európai Unió Szellemi Tulajdoni Hivatala (EUIPO)

Hivatalos információk itt érhetők el:

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/hu/covid-19-information

https://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/contentPdfs/law_and_practice/decisions_president/EX-20-03_en.pdf

A Szellemi Tulajdon Világszervezete (WIPO)

További, rendszeresen frissülő vonatkozó információk itt találhatók:

https://www.wipo.int/covid19-policy-tracker/#/covid19-policy-tracker/ipo-operations

https://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/news/2020/news_0007.html

A fentiekkel kapcsolatos bármilyen kérdéssel kérjük forduljon irodánkhoz, készséggel állunk rendelkezésére!

The post Tájékoztató a bíróságok és szellemitulajdon-védelmi hatóságok előtti ügymenet COVID-19 járvány miatt bevezetett változásairól appeared first on Danubia.