(4) The National Office of Inventions shall be required to transmit the request to the court, together
with the relevant file, within eight days. Where the request is submitted to the court, the National Office of
Inventions shall be required, at the request of the court, to transmit the relevant file to the court.
General Provisions of Judicial Procedure
17.—
(1) The court shall pronounce on requests for review of decisions taken in respect of design
protection, in accordance with civil procedure in noncontentious proceedings, subject to the derogations
provided for in this Chapter.
(2) Appeals for review of decisions taken by the National Office of Inventions shall be within the
exclusive competence and responsibility of the Budapest Metropolitan Court. The Budapest Metropolitan
Court shall be composed of three professional judges when sitting in the proceedings referred to.
(3) In addition to the cases listed in Sections 13 to 15 and 21 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the
persons having participated in the decision by the National Office of Inventions, together with their close
relations or divorced spouses, as defined in Section 13(2), shall be excluded from the procedure and may not
participate therein as judges. This also applies to minute writers and experts.
(4) In addition to the persons defined in Section 67(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, consulting
engineers may also exercise the functions of representative during the procedure.
Taking of Decisions
18.—
(1) Before taking its decision and on request, the court shall hear the parties. If the matter cannot be
judged on the basis of the file, the court, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure,
shall hold a hearing and shall examine the evidence. The court may exclude the public from the hearing or
from the pronouncement of the judgment, even where the conditions of Section 7 of the Code of Civil
Procedure are not met.
(2) The court shall reject a request for review of a decision by the National Office of Inventions or
shall amend such decision or, in those cases listed in paragraph (3), shall annul such decision. Where the
court amends the decision, the latter’s judgment shall replace the decision of the National Office of
Inventions.
(3) The court shall annul the decision and order the National Office of Inventions to institute a new
procedure if:
(a) a person against whom incompatibility may be invoked has participated in the taking of
the decision; or
(b) during the proceedings before the National Office of Inventions, any other fundamental
breach of procedure which cannot be remedied by the court occurred.
Appeal; Action for Unlawfulness
19.—
(1) The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure concerning appeals from court decisions shall
apply in respect of appeals from decisions of first instance courts and the examination of the appeal;
however, limited evidence may be taken also by the court of second instance.
(2) Final decisions rejecting a request for design protection, establishing the expiry of design
protection or annulling design protection, may not be annulled as regards substance by means of an appeal
for unlawfulness; the decision of the Supreme Court shall restrict itself to establishing a violation of the law.