Protection of Trademarks and Geographical Service Marks (Trademark Act) is a new statute that was passed by the Hungarian Parliament and took effect July 1, 1997. When passing the Trademark Act, Parliament considered the old Hungarian trademark laws (1969) as well as the respective laws of the European Union. As well, in September of 1993 Hungary signed a comprehensive intellectual property rights agreement with the United States. The agreement addresses such issues as copyright, trademarks, and patent protection. The U.S. Government was to have tracked the Hungarian government's enforcement of this agreement to ensure that protections are duly enforced (36).

Copyright protection is extended to literary, scientific, and artistic creations, including software. A major complaint over IRP protection in Hungary has been the lack of enforcement especially in the area of software, sound recordings, videotapes, movies, and cable TV. A second complaint is that in cases of infringement, court proceedings can be very time consuming and injunctive relief is not readily available (37).

For the year 1994, data shows that Hungary was ranked the third highest of the Eastern European Countries for software piracy (Russia and Poland being one and two respectively). In 1996, Hungary was ranked fifth (Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, CIS - less Russia, being one - four, respectively) (39).

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