Industrial Designs

– See “Patents of Invention“.

Membership in International Conventions

– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since June 18, 1992.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since June 25, 1991.
– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since June 25, 1991.
– Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs, since June 25, 1991 (Directive 98/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 13, 1998 on the legal protection of designs).
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since July 30, 1995.
– Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, Stockholm Act since January 13, 1995, and Geneva Act since December 23, 2003.
– Council Regulation (EC) No. 6/2002 of December 12, 2001 on Community designs, amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1891/2006 of December 18, 2006, implemented by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2245/2002 of October 21, 2002.

Filing

Definitions: 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. Product means any industrial or handicraft item, including, inter alia, parts intended to be assembled into a complex item, packaging, get-up, graphic symbols and typographic typefaces, but excluding computer programs.

Applicant: any legal or natural person.

Foreigners: must appoint a professional representative in Slovenia (though they may perform some acts without a representative).

Protection of foreigners: they enjoy the same rights as Slovenian nationals.

Naming of author(s): not obligatory.

Exceptions to protection: a design shall not be registered as a design if (1) it is not a design within the meaning of the above definition; (2) it is not new and does not have individual character; (3) it should be refused pursuant to Article 6ter of the Paris Convention; (4) it includes or imitates badges, emblems or escutcheons other than those covered by Article 6ter of the Paris Convention and which are of particular public interest, unless the consent of the competent authorities to its registration has been given; (5) it is contrary to public order and morality. Neither should its features be solely dictated by its technical function.

Novelty: worldwide.

Series applications: any number of designs may be contained in one application if they belong to the same class of the Locarno International Design Classification.

Priorities: six months according to Paris Convention; exhibition priority of an officially recognized international exhibition or fair may be claimed within three months following the closing date of the exhibition or fair.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney (no legalization required);
2. 3 sets of photographs (min. 3 x 3 cm, max. 16 x 16 cm, black and white, of professional quality) or formal drawings (A4, suitable for reproduction).

Electronic filing: available. 

Electronic signatures: are not accepted (only wet signatures).

Examination Procedure

Examination: only a formal examination; no examination as to novelty.

Opposition: not possible.

Deferment of publication: up to twelve months.

Transformation of design into patent (and vice versa): not possible.

Granting

Granting and registration: when the Office has established that the applied for design meets the requirements, it issues a decision on the registration, enters it in the Register and publishes the mention of the registration.

Duration: up to twenty-five years from the date of filing the application.

Renewal: every five years before the corresponding anniversary of the filing date. Grace period: six months, with 50% fine.

Licenses: exclusive or non-exclusive licenses can be granted.

Modification of Protection after Registration

Exhaustion of rights: regional.

Infringement: legal action against infringement of design rights can be brought before the court within three years after the infringement and the perpetrator has become known to the owner/licensee, but monetary claims can only be enforced for infringing acts having taken place during the five years preceding the filing of the action.

Nullification action: at any time, any interested person can institute a nullification action before the competent court, submitting evidence that at the date of filing the application, the conditions of protection were not fulfilled.