Designs

– Law No. 444/2002 Coll. on Designs of June 20, 2002, in force since October 1, 2002, and Decree No. 629/2002 Coll. implementing the above Act No. 444/2002 Coll. on Designs, amended by Law No. 84/2007 Coll. implementing EC Directive No. 2004/48/EC on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, effective from March 1, 2007, and further amended by Law No. 495/2008. Last amendment in force since January 14, 2019.

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 February 18, 2002.

Filing

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

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 Slovak citizens. 

Naming of the creator of the design: the name of the creator shall be stated in the application concerning a design. 

Notion of a design: 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. A design shall be protected if it is new and has individual character. 

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

Individual character: a 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 design, which has been made available to the public before the date of filing of the application or the date of priority. In assessing the individual character of a design, the degree of freedom of the designer in developing the design shall be taken into consideration. The features, which are solely dictated by its technical function, are not taken into consideration. 

Priority: must be claimed on filing. Priority document must be filed within three months from the filing date of the Slovak application. The term cannot be extended.

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 (photographs or drawings);
5. Description is not usually required and its filing is optional;
6. Priority document (to be filed within three months from the date of filing of the Slovak application) and an assignment of priority right if the applicant in the Slovak Republic is not identical with the first applicant.

Electronic filing: available. 

Electronic signatures: are accepted for PoAs, however, in case of assignment/transfer documents, a wet signature is required.

Examination Procedure

Procedure: the Office shall examine the application concerning a 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 design in the Official Bulletin.

Protection

Duration: the period of validity of registration is five years as from the day of filing the application.

Renewal: the period of validity can be extended four times by five-year periods.

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

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

Cancellation: the Office shall cancel a design, if it finds at a later stage that the requirements fixed by the law have not been complied with. Possible further judicial review of lawfulness before the court.