REGISTRATION OF UTILITY MODELS

In connection with the procedures for registration of Utility Models, PATENT BUREAU - PLOVDIV provides professional assistance to applicants in the following areas:

- For the purposes of the long-term use of the registered Utility Models we perform research for patent purity on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and for other countries. They are based on the current information from the official registers and databases of the active and/or already expired registered objects of Industrial Property, relevant to those of our clients. In these cases, our expert opinion proves to be very valuable in determining the future production or sales strategy of the company.

- Preparation of all necessary documents for the national registration of Utility Models, including: preparation of the mandatory forms; list of patent claims and drawings, as well as the filing of the application at the Patent Office.

- We perform various types of consultations connected with arisen disputes in procedures for registration of Utility Models.

• The legal protection of a Utility Model is acquired through registration at the Patent Office. The registration shall take effect in respect of third parties from the date of the publication in the Official Bulletin of the Patent Office.

• A Utility Model is considered new if it is not part of the state of the art.

• A Utility Model is considered to have an inventive step if a person with ordinary knowledge and skills in the field cannot easily implement it based on the state of the art

• The industrial applicability of the Utility Models is determined according to Art. 10 of the Act on Patents and Registration of Utily Models. 

As the oldest operating patent office in Southern Bulgaria, PATENT BUREAU – PLOVDIV has been working for more than three decades in the field of patent law and protection objects of Industrial Property, which includes: individual consulting, preparation of applications for Utility Models under national and international procedures. We have licensed national and European Industrial Property Representatives, who are entered in the Register of the Professional Representatives of the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Patent Office. Over the past years we have proven our invaluable academic contribution in the field of the patent law, as university professors and lecturers in various forms and content of educational qualification courses, seminars, including dozens of publications on current aspects of the patent law at home and abroad.

National application for registration of Utility Model

As in the case of patenting inventions, the Act on Patents and Registration of Utility Models regulates the right for filing Utility Models, which belongs to the inventor or his successor. Those applicants who have a permanent residence in the territory of the country may file at the Patent Office applications for national registration of Utility Models, both in person and through a local Industrial Property Representative. For applicants who do not have a permanent address in the Republic of Bulgaria, remains the possibility to file applications for registration of Utility Models only through an authorized local patent attorney, entered in the Register of the Patent Office. A priority date for filing an application for registration of a Utility Model is recognized when the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria has received the following documents: duly formed application; data of the applicant (natural or legal person); data of the inventor (if different from the first); the data of the patent attorney (if authorized); in the presence of a priority document - number, date and country of issuence; description of the Utility Model; abstract; document for paid state fee (for application and research); power of attorney (when an Industrial Property Representative is authorized); priority declaration (and fee paid); declaration of the actual inventors (where the applicants differ from the inventors); as well as a declaration under Art. 75 b (with data for a previous application for patent).
The working language of the Patent Office is Bulgarian, for this reason all filed documents for applying for Utility Models should be submitted in Bulgarian. When some of them are deposited in a foreign language, then in 3 months term from the date of the submission, it is necessary to present their legalized translation into Bulgarian language.

The provision underlying in the Act on Patents and Registration of Utility Models is that the Utility Models, as objects of Industrial Property are not subject to official material expertise for the presence of novelty and inventive step. They are assessed only whether they meet the requirement for industrial applicability, in accordance with Art. 10 of the Act on Patents and Registration of Utility Models.

However, for each application for registration of a Utility Model filed at the Patent Office, an initial formal examination is conducted, during which a check is made for the fulfillment of all documentary requirements. At the request of the applicants, at any time of the term of the registration, the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria may conduct a research and expertise of the filed Utility Models. Along with the registration of the Utility Models, a publication in the Official Bulletin of the Office is also done.

PATENT BUREAU - PLOVDIV provides professional patent legal protection and procedural representation before all courts and state bodies on the territory of the country and in the EU. Our highly qualified team is at your disposal for solving any problems related to the registration of your Utility Models, as well as for all other objects of Industrial Property.

For any difficulties encountered in the proceedings before the Patent Office, do not hesitate to contact us.