Hungarian Intellectual Property Office

Glossary of Industrial Property Terms

Deposit of microorganism (Act XXXIII of 1995 § 63)

Nowadays more and more microorganisms are produced and utilized, for example in the pharmaceutical industry. Legal protection can also cover this field. The disclosure of the invention is one of the requirements to grant a patent. In usual cases the disclosure of the invention is carried out by description. The written form to disclose the inventions based on microorganism or use of the microorganism is not sufficient. The deposit of the microorganism in a specialized institute is indispensable for the disclosure of such a patent.

Budapest Treaty (1977) on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure enables the microorganism to be available by only one deposit. According to the Treaty the deposit - in any international depository authority (34 such authorities were operating on February 17, 2003) - suffices for the purpose of patent procedure.

The Treaty has 66 contracting parties, indcluding Hungary.

The deposit and availability of the microorganism are set out in the Section 63 of the Act No. XXXIII:
- The microorganism shall be deposited on the day of patent application at latest.
- The proof of receipt on the deposit shall be filed within sixteen months as from the earliest date of priority.
- The Act provides for in detail to whom and when the deposited microorganism can be available by furnishing samples and for which purposes the samples furnished can be used.