Reinstatement of priority on grounds of "due care" and "unintentional/due care" accepted.
- via Paris Convention : 6 months from earliest priority date.
- The way of the Hague Agreement: The Hague Agreement will automatically take effect in Bulgaria after 6 months from the registration of the Hague Agreement.
- EU appearance route: 6 months from the earliest priority date.
A 12-month novelty grace period is available if:
- The designer, his legal successor, or a third party arising from the information or activities of the designer or his legal successor
- Third party that harms the interests of the designer
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.
Filing Language: Bulgarian 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
- Application fee payment certificate
Reinstatement of priority on grounds of "due care" and "unintentional/due care" accepted.
The BPO conducts formality examination of design patent applications.
A 12-month novelty grace period is available if:
- The applicant authorizes others to use
- manifest misuse by a third party
yes. Designs in the same category, or belonging to the same set or combination of articles, may contain several designs in one design (this condition does not apply when the product containing or attached to the design is an ornament).
- via Paris Convention : 12 months from earliest priority date.
- via Nationalization of PCT : 31 months from earliest priority date.
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 .