History

Croatia had very early, in the 19th century, the elements of regulated intellectual property system, although in that time, it was a party in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. After the Second World War, the system functioned within the Yugoslav community, under the competence of the Patent Office seated in Belgrade.The present State Intellectual Property Office was founded on December 31, 1991, after the Republic of Croatia gained its independence. Since then, Croatia has developed individually its national intellectual property system complying with the modern world trends.The Office was originally found as the Republic Industrial Property Office, competent for industrial property, renamed afterwards to the State Patent Office. Since November 7, 1996, copyright and related rights have been under the Office competence, encompassing therewith the whole field of intellectual property and resulting accordingly in the change of its name into the State Intellectual Property Office.