How many years is the protection period of Bulgarian invention patent application

A novelty grace period of 6 months is available if:

• The applicant or the original right holder obviously abused the
• Exhibited by the applicant or the original right holder at an official or officially recognized exhibition

• Grant fee: It must be paid together with the granted announcement fee within one month from the receipt of the granted notice.
• Annuity: pay year by year from the first year of the application date, and should be paid before the last day of the month of the application date at the latest, not exceeding one patent year, and the annual fee can be paid within a grace period of 6 months if it is overdue, and paid at the same time 200% late fee.

It is protected for 10 years from the date of application, and can be renewed for 3 times, each time for 5 years, with a maximum protection of 25 years.

yes. For an invention with the same subject matter, the applicant may file a patent type conversion request within 2 months from the date of receiving the patent application decision, but no later than 10 years from the application date, and change the patent type from invention to utility model .

• via Paris Convention : 12 months from earliest priority date.
• via Nationalization of PCT : 31 months from earliest priority date.
• Validation of European Patent in EPO member states: 3 months from the date of European patent grant

The BPO conducts formality examination of design patent applications.

2-5 years

A 12-month novelty grace period is available if:

• The applicant authorizes others to use
• manifest misuse by a third party

The BPO only conducts formality examination of utility model patent applications. The formality examination takes 3 months, and the content of the examination includes whether the applied for utility model patent application belongs to the object of protection, the issue of unity, etc. If the granted conditions are met, the patent is authorized.