A utility model has a lower inventive step threshold, is registered faster and lasts up to 10 years. A patent requires a stricter inventive step, is fully examined and lasts up to 20 years.
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Patents and Utility Models
Patents and Utility Models in practice
The most common mistake with inventions is not technical. An inventor presents the solution at a conference or to an investor without a confidentiality agreement and thereby destroys its novelty, without which no patent can be granted. What counts is the state of the art anywhere in the world on the filing date, including the inventor's own publications.
We help you decide whether a patent, a utility model, trade secret protection or a combination suits you. The technical part of the application, meaning the description and claims, is prepared together with registered patent attorneys. We handle the protection strategy, licence agreements, employee inventions and patent infringement disputes.
What we help with
- Choosing between a patent, a utility model and trade secret protection
- Patent searches in Slovak and international databases
- Working with patent attorneys on filings with the Slovak IP Office, EPO and under the PCT
- Licence, assignment and joint development agreements
- Employee inventions and inventor remuneration
- Patent enforcement and defence against infringement claims
Worth knowing
Three conditions for a patent
Under Section 5 of Slovak Act No. 435/2001, an invention must be new, involve an inventive step, meaning it is not obvious from the state of the art, and be capable of industrial application.
Patent or utility model
A patent lasts up to 20 years from filing and undergoes full examination. A utility model is registered without full examination, faster and at lower cost, and lasts up to 10 years (4 + 3 + 3).
Software as such is excluded
A computer program as such cannot be patented. A computer-implemented invention can be, if it produces a technical effect beyond the normal interaction between program and hardware.
The PCT buys time
An international PCT application filed through the Slovak IP Office gives you 30 months from priority to decide where to pursue protection. It does not create a world patent; each country decides separately.
Common questions
- A single application to the European Patent Office in Munich that, once granted, becomes a bundle of national patents in the chosen states. Since 1 June 2023, a Unitary Patent is also available in participating EU states.
- Yes, with patent attorneys registered with the Slovak Chamber of Patent Attorneys. The technical part of an application requires their qualification. We focus on strategy, contracts and litigation.
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This page is for general information, reflects Slovak law at the time of writing and is not a substitute for advice on your particular matter.