Industrial property in Albania has its origins back in 1920. From archival sources of the time, we learn that Albanian merchants were sensitive about protecting their products from counterfeiters. To achieve this, they sought protection for their products through trademark registration. The first certificate for a trademark dates back to April 16, 1920, issued for the brand "HOBDARI."
This trademark was used for the products of the company "Hobdari," which established its soap factory at the beginning of 1914. During this period, a large number of foreign trademarks were protected in Albania. Trademark registration remained in effect until 1944. In 1957, the government of that time, by its decision, recognized the registration of foreign trademarks in the People's Republic of Albania.
At that time, the Trademark Registration Bureau was located within the Chamber of Commerce, under the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and was the institution responsible for trademark registration. This Bureau completed the necessary documentation in accordance with the applicable legal provisions, specifically "Decree No. 2490 dated 22.07.1957, amended by Decrees No. 3530 dated 02.07.1962 and No. 4253 dated 11.04.1967" on "Production and Trade Marks."
This decree also set out the criteria for registering production trademarks by state-owned enterprises. As for patents for inventions, no Albanian patent for an invention had been granted in the Republic of Albania, as a physical document issued in accordance with the standards (laws) applied in other countries or by specialized international organizations in this field. Law No. 3029, dated 12.01.1960, granted the inventor the exclusive right to exploit their invention.
With Decree No. 4548, dated 3.10.1960, the aforementioned law was repealed. According to this Decree, inventors were granted only a certificate of invention, but not the exclusive right to its use, which was now transferred to the state. This led to the suspension of the registration of foreign patents in Albania. With Decree No. 7316, dated 20.7.1989, of the Civil Code of the Republic of Albania, Article 333A was added, which provided for the possibility of registering and protecting patents for inventions of foreign nationals in the country. Until 1994, the regulation of activities in this field (only regarding the registration of foreign patents for inventions) was done based on the Council of Ministers' Decision No. 393, dated 17.11.1990, "On the method of registering patents for inventions made outside the territory of the Republic of Albania," which represented merely a secondary legislative act.
The lack of legislation on patents for inventions, or more broadly on industrial property, constituted a major obstacle to the development of the industrial property system in the country. Additionally, the Republic of Albania lacked publications and texts on industrial property, and there was a need for a qualified staff to establish an industrial property office in the country. For this reason, membership in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was deemed essential, as well as its support and technical assistance.
In these circumstances, and in light of the developments of the time, when our country was about to embark on the path of a market economy, during the "Task Force Meeting in the framework of the UNDP Regional Program for the Fifth Cycle (1992 – 1996)," held from September 30 to October 4, 1991, in Celakovice, Czechoslovakia, representatives of the Committee of Sciences and Technology raised the need for urgent assistance to the Republic of Albania through an UNDP project aimed at establishing institutions in the field of industrial property.
In this meeting, the first contacts were made with representatives of WIPO, and they committed to immediately starting the proposed project for our country. After this meeting, Dr. Eng. Fatos Dega, Director at the Committee of Sciences and Technology, conducted the study "On the Status of the Industrial Property System in Albania and Some Issues for Its Future Development," dated 13/02/1992. The study served as supporting material for the Chairman of the Committee of Sciences and Technology, Prof. Dr. Petrit Skënde, a physicist, during his visit to the WIPO headquarters in Geneva and his meeting with Mr. Arpad Bogsch, Director General of WIPO, in February 1992.
The proposal and materials presented by the Albanian delegation were met with great enthusiasm by WIPO, and work immediately began on preparing the legal framework for the establishment of the Albanian patent office and for Albania's membership in WIPO. The aim was to enable support from this organization for the development of the industrial property system. The deposit of the instrument of Albania's accession to the "Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization" by the Albanian Government took place in March 1992, and it came into force on June 30, 1992. From that date, the Republic of Albania became a full member state of WIPO.
Thus, on March 22, 1993, by the decision of the Council of Ministers for the establishment of the Patent Office for Inventions, proposed by the Committee of Sciences and Technology, the "Patent Office for Inventions" was established. This office was set up and operated for many years under the Committee of Sciences and Technology.
With further developments, Albania also acceded to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, adopted in Paris on March 20, 1883, which came into force in the Republic of Albania on October 4, 1995. This was one of the first treaties in the world for industrial property, establishing a unified set of rules and principles for the treatment of industrial property by member countries. Albania continued its accession to most other international agreements on the international protection of trademarks, industrial designs, and patents for inventions. Gradually, the administrative and institutional capacities of the Patent Office were also improved.
In 2000, the Office was renamed the "Directorate of Patents and Trademarks," and its activities as a central public institution were placed under the authority of the Council of Ministers, based on Council of Ministers Decision No. 313, dated June 13, 2000, "On the Operation of the Directorate of Patents and Trademarks." With Law No. 9525, dated April 25, 2006, the Directorate of Patents and Trademarks became a public institution under the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Energy.
Its activity was defined and regulated by the Law on "Industrial Property" and regulations for industrial property objects. Through Law No. 9947, dated July 7, 2008, "On Industrial Property," as amended, it was renamed the "General Directorate of Patents and Trademarks," which became a public institution under the Ministry of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade, and Entrepreneurship. On May 1, 2010, the Republic of Albania acceded to the "European Patent Convention" and is now a member state of the European Patent Organization.
It is worth mentioning that the collaboration between the DPPI and the European Patent Office (EPO) dates back to 1995, when Albania signed the agreement for the extension of European Patents to our country. With the amendments to Law No. 9947, dated July 7, 2008, "On Industrial Property," as amended, on March 25, 2017, this institution entered an advanced phase of its reform by modernizing the system for the protection of industrial property objects in the Republic of Albania, with standards aligned with those of the European Union.
Currently, the institution is named the "General Directorate of Industrial Property," a designation chosen to encompass all its activities related to the registration of industrial property objects. It functions as an autonomous agency under the supervision of the minister responsible for the economy.