Utility Models
Legal Basis
– Law on Patents and Utility Models Registration, in force since June 1, 1993, with latest amendments as of December 23, 2023.
Membership in International Conventions
– See under “Patents“.
Protection
Definition: utility models must be new, industrially applicable and involve an inventive step.
Exception to protection: biotechnical inventions, methods, chemical compounds or their use as well as the objects excluded from patent protection (see under "Patents").
Filing requirements:
1. Power of attorney;
2. Specification;
3. Drawings;
4. Priority document, if priority is claimed.
Electronic filing: available.
Electronic signatures: only qualified electronic signatures (in the meaning of Reg. (EC) No. 910/2014) are accepted.
Duration: four-year term, starting from the date of application; can be extended twice for a three-year period (total term of protection: ten years).
Annuities: are no longer due.
Examination: formal.
Registration: the utility model is registered within one month from the date of notification, if the fees for registration, delivery of the certificate, and publication are paid.
Postponement of the registration: possible for fifteen months by request of the applicant; must be filed within three months following the application date, respectively the priority date
Conditions of use, rights of protection, disputes: same as for “Patents of Invention”.