Industrial Designs

– Law of June 21, 2000, No. 207/2000 on the Protection of Industrial Designs, in force since October 1, 2000, as amended by Laws Nos. 474/2004, 501/2004, 59/2005, 221/2006, and 303/2013.
– Act No. 221/2006 Coll. of April 25, 2006 on Enforcement of Industrial Property Rights and on the Amendment of Industrial Property Protection Acts.

Membership in International Conventions

– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since January 1, 1993.
– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since January 1, 1993.
– Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs, since January 1, 1993.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since January 1, 1995.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since March 16, 1999.

Filing

Applicant: the creator of the design or his successor in title. 

Foreigners and nationals not living in the country: must appoint a representative for any proceedings brought before the Patent Office. 

Protection of foreigners: subject to reciprocity, foreigners have the same rights and duties as Czech citizens. 

Naming of the designer of the design: the name of the designer shall be stated in the application concerning an industrial design. 

Notion of an industrial design: industrial design means the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular the lines, contours, colors, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation. An industrial design shall be protected, if it is new and has individual character.

Novelty: an industrial design is new if no identical design has been made available to the public before the filing date of the application or the date of priority. Industrial designs shall be considered as identical if their features differ only in immaterial details.

Individual character: an industrial design shall have individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on such a user by any industrial design, which has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application or the date of priority. In assessing individual character of an industrial design, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing design shall be taken into consideration. The features, which are solely dictated by its technical function, are not taken into consideration. 

Scope of protection: the scope of protection shall be given by the representation of the industrial design as it is registered except features being predestined by the technical function of the design, or which must necessarily be reproduced in exact form and dimensions, in order to permit the product, in which the industrial design is incorporated or to which it is applied, to be mechanically connected to or placed in, round or against another product, so that either product may perform its function. The scope of protection includes any industrial design, which does not produce on the informed user a different overall impression. 

Priority: the applicant shall claim the right of priority within the time limit of one month from the filing of the application and prove this right on invitation of the Patent Office.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Name and address of the applicant;
2. Name and address of the creator of the design;
3. Power of attorney (signed by the applicant without legalization; can be filed later on);
4. 6 reproductions of the design;
5. Description explaining the representation;
6. Priority document (to be filed on the invitation of the Examiner) and an assignment of priority right if the applicant in the Czech Republic is not identical with the first applicant.

Electronic filing: available. 

Electronic signatures: are accepted.

For a change of name or address: no change of name/address document required.

Examination Procedure

Procedure: the Office shall examine the application concerning an industrial design as well as the design applied for. If the subject of the application complies with the requirements prescribed for its registration, the Office shall register it in the Register. The Office announces the registration of any industrial design in the Official Journal.

Granting

Delivery of document: the Office issues the certificate of registration in paper format.

Duration – extension: five years as from the day of filing the application. The period of validity can be extended four times, by five-year periods.

License: shall be given by a license contract. A license contract takes effect in respect of third parties by its entry in the Register of Industrial Designs.

Right of prior user: a registration of an industrial design shall have no effect against a person who prior to the priority right, had already worked the industrial design independently of the creator or owner of said design or had made arrangements that can be proved for doing so. 

Cancellation: the Office shall cancel an industrial design, if it finds at a later stage that the requirements fixed by the law have not been complied with.

Infringement: anyone whose right has been infringed is entitled to demand legal protection and to pursue the remedy of the infringement. Reparation of damage can be claimed. Litigation shall be settled by court.