On 27 February 2025, the Parliament (Saeima) of the Republic of Latvia adopted amendments to the Civil Procedure Law, inter alia, adding Chapter 28.2 “Appeal against a decision of the Industrial Property Board of Appeal” and Chapter 30.10 “Cases regarding the rights in respect of which a dispute was examined in the Board of Appeal”.
Chapter 30.10 of the Civil Procedure Law establishes and specifies the already known procedure for initiating and examining cases regarding the rights in respect of which a dispute was examined in the Industrial Property Board of Appeal (hereinafter – the Board of Appeal), i.e., in opposition, invalidation, revocation cases, and appeal cases against decisions of the Patent Office. The main changes in this category of cases are in the state fee – the special state fee of 225 euros has been replaced by the general state fee for claims that are not of a material nature – 300 euros, as well as few procedural questions are now particularized.
However, more significant changes can be found in Chapter 28..2 of the Civil Procedure Law, which establishes the possibility of appealing decisions of the Board of Appeals made in appeal cases, where decisions of the Patent Office not related to a registration of an industrial property object or its refusal are challenged. A complaint about such a decision can be submitted before the Riga City Court within a month from the date of notification of the decision, by paying a security deposit of 80 euros for filing a complaint. The court’s decision on such a complaint cannot be appealed.
The amendments to the law will come into force on 1 April 2025.