EISi, an non-university academic research center for IP & IT, is now working on the complex proposal that aims at improving IP specialization of Slovak judges. Obviously, when considering the impact of the proposed changes, we also had to have a look at the number of litigated cases before Slovak courts. Huťko is glad to share these numbers with you.

EISi obtained quite accurate numbers about the intellectual property litigation in Slovakia from the period of the last five years, from Slovak Ministry of Justice. Due to methodological reasons, the figures represent only number of court cases filed before the first instance courts, and does not reflect on how many of these cases eventually ended up before appellate courts or the Supreme Court. Nonetheless, the numbers are quite interesting as they precisely unveil what lot of us expected. Slovakia is just really tiny jurisdiction. In average, according to this statistics, only around 150 new intellectual property cases are filed every year.

Please note that this number does not include any appeals against the decisions of the Slovak Industrial Property Office and criminal cases, but only regular civil litigation.

Comparing below figures with more than 1,2 milion cases filed every year, it is very suprising how small proportion IP litigation represents at the moment. So small, that one asks whether the figures are really true. Such numbers make Slovakia a good jurisdiction for further development when comparing to registration appetite before Slovak Industrial Property Office (statistics also below).

Slovakia has 5,5 milion citizens.