1998 Amendment of the Patent and Utility Models Act effect as of February 1, 1999

Important Changes:

• Internal Priority
  The applicant is entitled, within a period of twelve months of the filing date of a patent or utility model application filed with the Austrian Patent Office, to claim the priority of the earlier patent or utility model application.

• Secret Patents
  Patents which have not been published by the Austrian Patent Office are no longer granted.

• Conversion
  Upon request, a European Patent Application may be converted into an Austrian utility model application

• "Whole Content Approach"
  The concept of novelty according to the "whole content approach" known for patents applies also to utility models.

• Branching off
  A utility model application may be branched off a (national or international) patent application within specific periods of time, and the priority of the patent application may be claimed for it.