Technical property rights

Patent

Through patents inventions in all fields of technology may be protected. Before granting the Patent Office examines if the invention is new, not obvious to the person skilled in the art from the state of the art, and susceptible of industrial application. The maximum term is 20 years from the date of the filing of the application.

The patent entitles the patentee to exclude others from industrially producing the subject matter of the invention, putting it on the market, offering it for sale or using it or importing or possessing it for the said purposes.

Utility model

Also with utility models inventions in all fields of technology may be protected. The registration is done without examination for novelty, inventive step and industrial application. The utility model protection ends no later than ten years following the end of the month, in which the utility model application was filed.

The utility model entitles the utility model owner to exclude others from industrially producing the subject matter of the invention, putting it on the market, offering it for sale or using it or importing or possessing it for the said purposes. In case of a process it shall be effective to the products directly obtained by such process.

Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC)

For medicinal or plant protection products that have to be authorized and that are protected by a basic patent supplementary protection certificates may be granted. Before grant each supplementary protection certificate application is examined. The period of protection extends the period of protection of the basic patent up to five years. For medicinal products for paediatric use the duration may be extended once for a further period of six months.

The supplementary protection certificate gives the owner the same rights as the basic patent, limited to the use of the medicinal or plant protection product that have been authorized before the expiration of the supplementary protection certificate.

Semiconductor

For three dimensional structures of microelectronic semiconductor products (topographies) protection can be requested. Before registration only formal requirements are examined. The maximum term of protection ends ten years after the end of the calendar year in which protection begins.

the semiconductor protection entitles the owner to exclude others from industrial reproductions of the topography or parts thereof which are utilisable for their own, from producing illustrations for production of the topography, putting such illustrations on the market, offering them for sale or using them or importing or possessing them for the said purposes.