Trade Marks and Designs

Information for Applicants

1. Type of application 
   If an applicant has got his/her seat in the Slovak Republic (in case of co-applicants, the first applicant) the application shall be a national application. If the first mentioned applicant has got his/her seat outside the territory of the Slovak Republic, the application shall be foreign.
   An application may contain a request for registration of only one design, a simple application, or several designs, collective application. Collective application shall contain the list of designs for which the registration is requested. Amount of administrative fee for filing an application shall depend on the number of designs; the administrative fee increases for the second and following designs. If filed application is divided, the notification about this division shall be entered into the application with the number of prior application.
2. The Name of a Design
   The name of a design shall be brief, apt and shall classify the design pursuant to the international classification of designs. Using manufacturing, trade or similar names and using abbreviations containing letters and numbers is incorrect, because these do not express the meaning of the product, i.e. what kind of a product it is and what its designation is.
3. Classification
   Designs shall be classified into classes and subclasses pursuant to the international classification. Collective application shall contain only designs belonging to one class of the international classification.
4. Applicant
   Information on applicant shall be stated. A person who files an application shall be an applicant. When the design is being entered into the Register, an applicant becomes an owner. An applicant may be a natural person or a legal entity. Names of legal entities shall be stated together with full business name.
5. Representative of an applicant
   In proceedings on design application before the Office an applicant shall act on his own or shall be represented by an authorised representative. Applicants with the seat in the Slovak republic shall not be obliged to be represented by an authorised representative (only when an applicant is not qualified to fill an application form or he/she are not being available on his/her address for a long term). An applicant with the seat abroad shall be obliged to be represented by an authorised representative. If an authorised representative is appointed to represent an applicant before the Office, full power has to be attached to the application. Full power shall include name, full address of constituent, his/her signature, and the scale of a full power. If a representative is being authorised with a general full power with original deposited in the Office, the number of this full power shall be stated in the application form. Names of legal entities shall be stated in full business names in the application form.
6. List of enclosures
   An applicant shall indicate all attachments, attached to an application form on the day of filing.
   Photographs or other illustrations (3x)
   Designation of a product (3x)
   Description of a design (3x) - not obligatory
   List of designs contained in the collective application (3x)Priority right according to international agreement
   Priority right resulting from the Paris Convention may be claimed at the time of filing and prove this right up to three months from filing, otherwise it is not taken into consideration.
7. Priority Right Pursuant to an International Convention 
   Priority right pursuant to the Paris Convention shall be established on the filing date of an application and proved within three months from the filing date, otherwise it shall not be taken into consideration.
8. Deferral of a Design Publication after Its Registration
   
   When an applicant requires deferral of a design publication in the Register, he/she shall be obliged to state the date, on which the design shall be published. Deferral shall not exceed 30 months from the filing date or from the date of the priority right rise.
9. Company Design
   If a design is created within the framework of fulfilling tasks from an employment relationship, it shall become a company design. If an applicant is not an author, or a design is not a company design, the applicant shall be obliged to prove the right to file an application.
10. Designer 
    A designer is a person who has created a design by his/her own creative activity. A designer shall have the right to be mentioned in the application if an applicant is other person and shall have the right to be entered into the Register as a designer if an owner of a registered design is other person; except the case when the designer surrenders the right to be mentioned in the application. In this case an applicant shall submit his/her written statement on this fact.
11. Signature of an Applicant or His Legal Representative 
    An application without signature shall be considered invalid (because application contains no valid proof of the applicant's will) and it does not pledge the priority right from filing of application