Category: Utility Model

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Term of utility model protection

The validity of utility model protection shall be four years as from the filing date of the application or the filing date of an earlier patent application in respect of the same subject matter.

At the request of the owner of the utility model the Office shall extend the term of validity of the utility model registration for further two three-year periods. Extension of the term of validity of the utility model may be applied for at the earliest during the final year of the validity. If the utility model is registered after expiration of the time limit, the Office shall extend the term of validity of the utility model without a request from the owner of the utility model.

Utility model shall lapse:

  • – on expiry of its term of validity;
  • – on relinquishment by the owner of the utility model; in such case, protection shall terminate as from the date on which the Office receives a written declaration to such effect by the owner of the utility model.

Cancellation of Utility Model

At the request of any person, the Office shall cancel the registration of a utility model if:

  • -the subject matter of the utility model is already protected by a patent with effects on the territory of the Czech Republic or utility model enjoying earlier priority;
  • -the subject matter of the utility model extends beyond the content of the application as filed.

The effect of cancellation of the registration of a utility model shall be as if the utility model had not been recorded in the Register. If the grounds for the cancellation only relate to the part of the utility model, the utility model shall be cancelled partially. Cancellation of a utility model may also be carried out even after lapse of the utility model if the person filing the request can prove a legal interest.

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Effects of utility model

Nobody may manufacture, place on the market or use in his economic activities a technical solution enjoying utility model protection without the consent of the owner of the utility model.

The owner of the utility model shall be entitled to give his consent (licence) to the use of a technical solution utility model protection to other persons or to assign the utility model to them. Rights conferred by a patent granted on the basis of a patent application having later priority may not be asserted in the event of a dispute without the consent of the owner of the utility model.

A utility model shall not be invoked against persons who have used the technical solution enjoying utility model protection independently of the author or the owner of the utility model before its priority date or who have verifiably undertaken measures to that end (hereinafter referred to as “prior users”). If agreement is not reached, the prior user may apply to a court for recognition of his rights by the owner of the utility model.

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Conversion of the European patent application to the national utility model application

On request by the applicant of the European patent application, filed under the European Patent Convention, the Office shall begin proceedings on the European patent application as on the application.

If the request has been filed, the Office shall invite the applicant to pay within 3 months the filing fee in accordance with the special regulations and to provide the translation of the European patent application to the Czech language in triplicate.

If the applicant meets the conditions under the national regulations and the Office receives the request for the conversion of the European patent application within 20 months from the date of the priority, the Office shall accord the right of priority to the national application from the European patent application as filed.

Protection under this national regulations shall begin with the registration of the utility model. When registering the utility model, the Office shall issue to the applicant – who on registration becomes the owner of the utility model – a certificate of registration of the utility model and shall announce the registration of the utility model in the Bulletin. After registration of the utility model the Office shall publish the documentation.

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The priority right

The priority right of the applicant shall begin with the filing of the application.

The applicant shall claim the right of priority under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (hereinafter “Paris Convention”) already on filing the application and, at the same time, state the filing date of the application from which the right of priority derives, its number and the state in which the application has been filed or the authority with which the application has been filed under the international treaty. At the request of the Office, the applicant must furnish evidence of this right within the stated time limit, failing which the priority right shall not be taken into consideration.

In case of the conversion of the European patent application, in which the protection for the Czech Republic was requested, into the application, the applicant may claim his right of priority from the European patent application.

If the applicant has already sought in the Czech Republic a patent for the same technical solution, he shall be entitled to request in his application the recognition of the filing date of such application or any right of priority deriving therefrom. The Office shall afford the application for utility model protection the date of filing or of priority of the earlier patent application if the later application is filed within two months of the decision on the patent application and, at the latest however, within 10 years of its filing date. An applicant claiming rights shall be required – within a period of two months from filing the application for utility model protection – to submit a duplicate of the patent application the filing or priority date of which is claimed, failing which the right shall lapse.

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National UTILITY MODELS in the Czech Republic

A utility model protects functional aspects of an invention and, once issued, lasts for 10 years from its filing date. After filing this application, you may want to file a PCT international application to test marketplace interest in your invention. It will give you up to a year of additional “patent pending” status. By doing this, you could benefit from as much as 21 years of combined priority registered utility model/patent pending status.

Novel, commercially usable inventions of lesser inventive merit than patents may be protected for a maximum period of 10 years.

Examination is only for formal requirements, not for novelty and inventive merit; however, a search concerning the prior art is carried out to which the scope of protection claimed may be adapted. If desired, a utility model application may be converted into a patent application prior to publication. Otherwise analogous provisions as to patents and patent applications apply.

Technical solutions which are new, exceed the framework of mere professional skill and are industrially applicable shall be protected as utility models.
 

The following in particular shall not be deemed technical solutions:

  • – discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
  • – the mere appearance of products;
  • – schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts;
  • – computer programs;
  • – the mere presentation of information.
     

The following shall not be protected as utility models:

  • – technical solutions contrary to public interest, particularly the principles of humanity and public morality;
  • – plant or animal varieties and biological reproductive materials;
  • – production processes or work activities.

A technical solution shall be considered new if it does not form part of the state of the art. For the purposes of national regulations, the state of the art shall be deemed to comprise everything made available to the public prior to the date from which the applicant claimed the right of priority. The state of the art shall not be held to comprise any disclosure of the applicant’s work or that of his predecessor in title, which took place within six months before the filing of the utility model application. A technical solution shall be considered susceptible of industrial application if it can be used repeatedly in economic activities. The right to utility model protection shall belong to the author or his successor in title. The author of utility model shall be the person who created the utility model by means of his own creative work.