BELGRADE - Due to the termination of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; Republic of Serbia and Republic of Montenegro now have separate jurisdictions with respect to Intellectual Property.
According to the Belgrade-based law firm, POPOVIC, POPOVIC, SAMARDZIJA & POPOVIC, the Republic of Serbia is the exclusive legal successor of the former State Union, and therefore all Intellectual Property Rights remain valid on the territory of Serbia, with the Intellectual Property Office in Belgrade as the competent office, while the Republic of Montenegro has not yet enacted the legislation that would regulate all the issues arising from the legal succession.
The Republic of Montenegro will soon institute the Montenegrin Intellectual Property Office and bring an Intellectual Property law that will regulate the terms and date for re-registration of granted rights and continuation of pending rights from the former State Union, in order to extend the validity of these rights to the newly formed Republic of Montenegro.
Thus, the Republic of Montenegro, at this point, cannot be considered as a signatory state of Intellectual Property conventions, treaties and agreements (such as Paris Convention, Madrid Agreement and Patent Cooperation Treaty).
Montenegro and Serbia formally declared their independence on June 3 and 5, 2006 respectively.