Inventions

Registering an invention – the process

Would you like to apply for a patent for your own invention? If so, you should apply for registration using the prescribed form issued by the Industrial Property Office (the “Office”). The patent application must contain a request for the grant of a patent in two copies, a description of the invention and at least one patent claim. You will also need to provide an abstract and, where applicable, drawings, figures, the chemical formula of a compound and so on – all in one original and two copies. One set of documents is signed by the applicant and the other by the authorised representative. The main documents must be suitable for printing and reproduction. The required annexes also form part of the patent application. On filing, the applicant pays the relevant administrative fee.

The patent application must name the inventor. Each application may cover only one invention, or a single group of inventions so linked as to form one overall inventive concept. If your application lacks unity, the Office will ask you to remedy the defect within a set time limit. You may also file a divisional application, which can then claim priority based on the originally filed application. The invention must be explained in the application clearly enough for specialists to build or carry it out.

If, before filing the patent application, the applicant also filed a utility model application with the same subject matter, they may request the filing date and, where applicable, the right of priority of that utility model application, provided the patent application is filed within 36 months of the utility model application. If the utility model proceedings are discontinued, the patent application must be filed within 2 months of delivery of the decision.

Filing a patent application gives the applicant a right of priority arising from an international treaty; this right must be claimed in the patent application itself and, at the Office’s request, substantiated within the set time limit in order to be taken into account.

The Office will carry out a preliminary examination of the patent application to establish whether it contains an obviously unpatentable solution and whether it has any defects preventing publication. The application is published once 18 months have elapsed from the priority date, and publication is announced in the Office’s Journal.

For patent applications filed after 1. January 2012 that meet the requirements published in Office Journal No. 12/20100, the Office must prepare a search report within nine months of filing, send it to the applicant within the set deadline and then publish it together with the patent application once 18 months have elapsed from the priority date. The Office then carries out a full examination of the patent application, either at the applicant’s request or of its own motion. A request for full examination may be filed no later than 36 months from the filing of the patent application and cannot be withdrawn; the administrative fee must be paid at the same time.

The applicant becomes the patent holder once all the conditions of the application have been met and the relevant administrative fee has been paid. As holder, they have the exclusive right to use the patented invention, to authorise others to use the patent, or to transfer it to them. The patent is valid for 20 years from the filing of the application and takes effect on the day the grant is announced in the Office’s Journal.

Applicants without the necessary knowledge of and experience in patent law may be represented by a patent attorney, an advocate or a private lawyer. The Office may conduct the proceedings with both the applicant and their representative. If the inventor is also the applicant, they become a party to the proceedings. The rights and obligations arising from the creation and exploitation of an invention are governed by law.

General requirements for the documents of a patent application for an invention

With the exception of the request, at least one set of documents (the master copy) must allow high-quality reproduction or printing. The master copy should be submitted on white, durable A4 paper. Figures or text on each sheet are set in portrait orientation and on one side of the sheet only. Landscape orientation is permitted only on pages containing figures and tables that are too wide to fit on a portrait page. Text on each page should run in one direction only. The master copy must not bear any signature, stamp or other details.

Each part of the patent application (description, patent claims and abstract) should begin on a new page. All pages should be bound together in such a way that they can be turned easily, separated and rejoined.

With the exception of the request and drawings, the following minimum margins must be left on each page:

1. top margin 2,0 cm,
2. left margin: 2.5 cm,
3. right margin 2,0 cm,
4. bottom margin 2,0 cm.

All pages of the description, patent claims and abstract are numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals with no other characters. Page numbers are placed in the centre of the top or bottom margin. The request, description, patent claims and abstract are submitted in typewritten or printed form, with line spacing equivalent to 1,5 typewriter spacing. All typed text must use characters at least 0,21 cm high in a dark, indelible colour. Where the application documents are prepared in a word processor (e.g. MS WORD), the Times New Roman font is recommended, in a size of at least 12 and ideally 14 points. All characters within a paragraph should be the same size. Italics and bold should not be used, and text should not be underlined unless expressly required (e.g. for reference signs in the Examples of embodiments of the invention section). Paragraphs should be separated by spacing at least twice that used within a paragraph. The application text is best arranged in a single column. Tables, chemical and general formulae, relationships and equations are set on separate lines. The description, patent claims and abstract must not contain any drawings, although they may contain chemical and mathematical formulae and tabular data.

Mathematical, physical and electrical symbols and units, as well as technical terminology, must comply with technical standards or, in the absence of such standards, with the symbols, units and terms generally accepted in the relevant technical field. Terminology and reference signs must be consistent throughout the patent application.

When preparing patent application documents, you are advised to follow as closely as possible the recommendations of World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standard ST.22, which concerns the presentation of patent applications to facilitate optical character recognition. The original text of Standard ST.22 is available on the WIPO website, and an unofficial Slovak translation is available on the Office’s website.