Intellectual Property Rights
As any other country, Slovenia has appropriate protection of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights are primarily regulated through Copyright and Related Rights Act and through Industrial Property Act. Procedures and registers are managed by the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). SIPO grants protection for the following industrial property rights:
- patents,
- supplementary protection certificates,
- industrial designs,
- trademarks,
- topographies of integrated circuits and
- geographical indications.
In case of individuals creating on their own, copyright belongs to the author of the work (including its entire set of economic, moral and other rights) – by the mere fact of creation of the work.
In case when copyright work is created by an employee in the execution of his or her duties or following the instructions given by his employer, the economic rights and other rights of the author to such work are exclusively assigned to the employer for the period of ten years from the completion of the work (both parties can agree on different arrangement if they wish so). After the ten-year period all the rights are automatically transferred back to the author. Moral rights always and without exceptions stay with the author.
Inventions created during the employment are, in general, at the disposal of the employer. The employer can assert unlimited claim to the invention or can choose some other limited form.
N.B.
As intellectual property rights protection is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, please consult relevant documentation and/or institution before actual application.