Romania is a signatory to the international agreements regarding intellectual property rights and it adopted, especially after 1990, a number of important laws intended to protect such rights. Also, the Association Agreement with the European Union and the subsequent treaties regarding adherence include specific provisions that reaffirm the undertaking of the rules internationally accepted in this field.

Romania is a party to the Paris Convention of 1883 for the protection of industrial property, and also signed all subsequent amendments.

According to article 1.2. of the Paris Convention, "the object of the protection of industrial property includes patents, utility models, industrial designs or models, brands and trademarks, service marks, trade names and indications of origin, as well as the repression of unfair competition".

On March 1st, 2003 Romania adhered to the Convention regarding the issuance of European patents, regulated by Law 611/2002. The European Patent Convention is a private arrangement between states, in the sense of art. 19 of the Paris Convention, the purpose of which is the issuance of the European patent, which should have the same effect in one or several member states and should comply with the same conditions as a national patent in the states designated by the patent applicant.

Currently, the basic normative act that regulates the protection of patents and investors in Romania is Law 64/1991, regarding patents as republished on October 2002. Protection is granted under this law in the event that a main patent was registered with the State Office for Patents and Trademarks (OSIM) and is valid for 20 years. For the European patent the 20-year protection period starts from the date of the patent statutory deposit, established according to the European patent Convention.

A patent may be patented if it is new, results from an inventive activity and is likely to be used for industrial purposes. The transfer of the right over a patent may be performed by means of an assignment or on the basis of a license, as well as by succession.

- the right of exclusive use, allowing the holder to make exclusive use of the trademark for the products and services for which the registration was made. This right also implies that the use of the same trademark for products and services other than those for which the registration was made, is possible and does not represent an infringement of the law.

The holder of the trademark may demand the competent court to prohibit any third parties to use, in the course of their commercial activity, without its consent, a protected trademark; otherwise it shall have the possibility to demand the remedy of prejudices caused pursuant to the illegal use of trademarks.

The trademark holder shall also be granted the possibility to transfer the rights over the trademark, either in whole or in part, with title or free of charge.

The trademark's registration produces effects starting from the date of the trademark's national statutory deposit for 10 years. Upon the holder's request, the registration of the trademark may be renewed at the anniversary of each 10-year term, with the payment of the fee provided for under the law.

Content of the copyrights

Romanian law grants authors a number of moral rights with respect to the work they create, as follows:

- the right to decide whether, how and when the work is to be made public;

- the right to claim acknowledgement of his/her capacity as author of the work;

- the right to decide under what name the work shall be made public;

- the right to claim compliance with the work's integrity and to oppose any amendments, as well as any damaging of the work, if such damage prejudices his/her honor or reputation;

- the right to retract the work and to compensate, if necessary, the holders of the exploitation rights, prejudiced pursuant to the exercise of said retraction.

The author of a work has an exclusive patrimonial right to decide whether, how and when his/her work shall be used or exploited, including consenting to the use of the work by other people. The author may also authorize the translation of the work, the publication of the work in collections, its adjustment, as well as any other transformation of his/her work, whereby a derivative work is obtained.

Duration of the copyrights

The author of a work has an exclusive patrimonial right to decide whether, how and when his/her work shall be used or exploited, including consenting to the use of the work by other people. The author may also authorize the translation of the work, the publication of the work in collections, its adjustment, as well as any other transformation of his/her work, whereby a derivative work is obtained.

Industrial models and designs

The rights over the industrial models designs are protected in Romania by registration with OSIM under the Law no. 129/1992 as further modified by Law no. 585/2002.

Romania is also part to the Hague Agreement regarding the international deposit of industrial designs and models, adopted in Hague on November 6, 1925, with its subsequent amendments and additions, to which Romania adhered under Law no. 44/1992.

The right to be granted the registration certificate belongs to the author of the industrial design or model or to its rightful successor.

The registration application and the description of the new elements, characteristic for the industrial design or model for which protection is sought, accompanied by the graphic representations of the industrial design or model, shall be lodged with OSIM and represent the statutory national deposit.

The statutory national deposit grants to the applicant a right of priority, beginning from the date of establishment thereof, as to any other subsequent deposit regarding the same industrial design or model. Priority may also be invoked pursuant to exhibiting the industrial design or model in an international exhibition, provided that the application is lodged within 6 months following the date of including the product in the exhibition.

Period of validity

The period of validity of an industrial design or model registration certificate is of 10 years following the date of establishment of the statutory deposit, and may be renewed for 3 successive periods of 5 years; the maximum period of protection is 25 years. Throughout the entire period of validity of the certificate, the holder of the same is obligated to pay the fees for maintaining such certificate in force.

Rights conferred by the registration of an industrial design or model

The certificate of registration confers its holder an exclusive right of exploitation of the industrial design or model and the right to prohibit any third party to carry out, without its consent, the following activities: duplicating, manufacturing, marketing or offering for sale, using, importing or storing for marketing purposes, offering for sale or using a product in which the industrial design or model is incorporated or to which the same applies.

Transfer of rights

The right to the issuance of the certificate of registration, the rights arising from the application for the registration of the industrial design or model, as well as the rights arising from the certificate of registration issued, are transferable in full or in part by succession, under an assignment or a license.

The transfer shall be registered with OSIM and it shall produce effects as to third parties, solely beginning from the date of its publication in the Official Industrial Property Bulletin (. Separately from the intellectual property rights above mentioned, Romanian legislation protects the topographies of integrated circuits (Law no. 16/1995).