Novelty grace period applies if the invention is disclosed to the public within six months of the filing date or priority date.
IGE/IPI only conducts formality examination of design patent applications. No novelty review is performed. Applicants may request a 30-month delay in publication.
Authorization Fee: None
Annual Fee: Renewable every 5 years starting from the 5th year from the filing date.
1 year
20 years
- Licensing Fee: None.
- Annuity: payable year by year starting from the fourth year from the date of application. The payment date can be the last day of the month where the application date is located. Overdue annual fees can be paid within a grace period of six months, and a penalty of 50.00 Swiss francs must be paid at the same time.
3-5 years
no
- via Paris Convention : 6 months from earliest priority date.
- Hague Agreement route: 6 months from earliest priority date.
- EU appearance route: 6 months from the earliest priority date.
Novelty grace period applies if the invention is disclosed to the public within six months of the filing date or priority date.
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.