Bosnia and Herzegovina used to be part of former Yugoslavia and declared its independence on March 1, 1992. The Intellectual Property Office was established in October 1992 as a department of the Institute for Standards, Metrology and Intellectual Property.

The ex-Yugoslav Industrial Property Law of 1990 was slightly amended and adopted in Bosnia and Herzegovina under title “The Law on Patents and Distinctive Signs” (Official Gazette “Sl. list RBiH” No. 21, October 1993, and No. 13, June 1994). This law was replaced by “The Law on Industrial Property in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (Official Gazette “Sl. glasnik BiH” No. 3, February 19, 2002), valid as of February 27, 2002 and effective as of August 27, 2002. The following five new laws were published (Official Gazette “Sl. glasnik BiH” No. 53, June 29, 2010), and they are valid as of July 7, 2010 and effective as of January 1, 2011:

• The Law on Patents,
• The Law on Trademarks,
• The Law on Industrial Designs,
• The Law on Geographical Indications,
• The Law on Protection of Topographies of Semiconductor Products.