Inventions
According to the Law No. 435/2001 Coll. on Patents, Supplementary Protection
Certificates and on Amendment of Some Acts (The Patent Act), patents shall
be granted for inventions which are new, involve an inventive step and
are susceptible of industrial application after carrying out the formaly-legal
and substantive examination. The so-called deferred examination with publication
of applications after expiry of 18 months is iplemented. The full examination
shall by carried out upon the request of an applicant, which shall be
filed within 36 months as from the filing date of the patent application.
It is also possible to patent chemical products and medicaments. The term
of the validity of a patent shall be 20 years as from the filing date
of the patent application. The prerequisite of the duration of the patent
validity is the payment of maintenance fees.
Legislation
Trademarks
The Law No. 174/1988 of the Coll. on Trademarks in the wording of the
National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 90/1993 of the Coll. of laws
states the conditions for the so called registration ability of a trademark.
A trademark shall be verbal, figurative, three-dimensional or combined
denomination, which is capable of distinguishing goods and services of
various manufacturers or suppliers of services. In addition, the Law specifies
in detail exclusions of denominations from the Register as well as denominations
that could not be a trademark. For example, it is the case of denominations
having no distinctive nature, denominations containing the official names
of States, denominations of goods and services kinds, generally known
geographical denominations, deceptive denominations, denominations identical
with a trademark registered in the name of another for goods and services
of the same kind.
The application for the registration of a trademark may be filed by the
legal entity or physical person carrying out permitted economic activity
in the corresponding field. The term of the registration of a trademark
shall be 10 years as from the filing date of the application for a trademark.
Upon the request of the owner of a trademark it is possible to extend
the term of protection by the renewal of the registration indefinitely
by ten-year periods, if the requirements for the payment of administrative
fees have been met.
Legislation
Utility Models
Since the year 1992 it has been possible to protect as utility models
technical solutions which are new, exceed the framework of the mere professional
ability and are susceptible of industrial application according to the
Law No. 478/1992 of the Coll. on Utility Models in the wording of the
Law of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 90/1992 of the
Coll. of laws. Procedure is based on the so-called registration principle.
Only formaly-legal examination is carried out before the registration
of a utility model into the Register. Contrary to the protection by a
patent, neither process or production activities, nor biological reproductive
matter shall be protected by a utility model. The Law allows an applicant
of a utility model to apply the priority right coming out of the application
for a utility model, which was filed earlier. The term of a utility model
registration shall be 4 years as from the filing date of the application
for a utility model and may be extended for a maximum of two three-year
periods upon the request of the owner of a utility model.
Legislation
Industrial Designs
According to the Law No. 527/1990 Coll. on Inventions, Industrial Designs
and Rationalisation Proposals in a wording of the Law of the National
Council of the Slovak Republic No. 90/1990 Coll. applications of industrial
designs are subject to formal, legal and substantive examination. The
main condition for entry of an industrial design to the Register and for
issuing the certificate is the world novelty and industrial applicability
of the outward appearance of a product. Record of an industrial design
to the Register is valid for 5 years from the date of filing an application
for an industrial design. On the request of the holder of an industrial
design this time limit may be extended twice as a maximum, every time
for another 5 years.
Legislation