Protection of inventions and patentability issues under Albanian and European legislation

The purpose of the study was to identify the legal gaps, institutional conflicts, and practical enforcement problems within the regulation of invention protection in Albania. The institution of Albanian patent law is examined through the prism of a systemic and legal approach, which has made it possible to trace the relationship between national norms and European standards of invention protection. The research has established that Albania’s system of invention protection has undergone stages of institutional transformation driven by the transition to a market economy and integration into the European legal space. Based on an analysis of institutional, procedural, and expert factors, five key groups of challenges have been identified that limit the effectiveness of the legal protection system for inventions: institutional, procedural, expert, personnel, and informational. The analysis of judicial decisions revealed that national courts tend to focus on procedural and administrative aspects of patent protection, while the technical assessment of novelty and inventive step remains insufficiently developed. Case analysis of judicial rulings and the formal legal method enabled the identification of typical errors in interpreting the criteria of novelty and inventive step, as well as the formulation of proposals for improving the examination of patent applications. The analysis has demonstrated that establishing a dedicated Invention Examination Unit within the General Directorate of Industrial Property, introducing systematic professional development for examiners supported by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and integrating modern information resources (such as Espacenet) would enhance the accuracy of the techno-legal analysis of patent applications and reduce the number of contradictory decisions. The findings of this study may be applied in the work of legislative bodies, patent examiners, judges, and intellectual property law educators with the aim of harmonising national practice with European standards