6-18 months
5-8 months
OPI does not conduct substantive examination for utility models (short-term patents). If no search is carried out or search reports from other countries are provided, it will only be protected as a short-term patent.
Filing Language: Dutch/French/English Necessary documents:
- Exterior Design Picture (Six Views)
- A Brief Description
Attachments (if any):
- Power of Attorney
- Certified Priority Document
- Declaration of Ownership/Certification of Employment/Assignment of priority
- Assignment for Patent Right Transfer
The initial protection is 5 years, which can be renewed 4 times, each time for 5 years, and the maximum protection can be 25 years.
OPI conducts only formality examination of design patent applications.
20 years
no
- Authorization Fee: None
- Annuity: pay year by year from the third year from the application date, and the payment deadline for the annual fee is the end of the month corresponding to the application date. If the annual fee is overdue, it can be paid within a grace period of 6 months, and a late fee of 20.00 Euros should be paid at the same time.
6-18 months
6 months before the filing date/priority date.