1. What is an industrial property right?

Industrial property rights protect objects that are the result of creative intellectual effort (such as inventions, designs) or serve to distinguish products and services on the market (e.g. trade marks). For protection to be granted, registration is required. The competent central government authority in this field is the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic.

2. Types of protection of industrial property rights

• Patent
• Supplementary protection certificate
• Utility model
• Design
• Trade mark
• Topography of semiconductor products
• Designations of origin and geographical indications

3. Register individual rights

Completed applications shall be submitted to the office. Application forms and instructions for applicants are available at Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic in the respective sections on individual subject-matters of industrial rights. If the filing meets all the legal requirements, the office shall assign a filing reference to the application and issue a confirmation of the receipt of the filing, and send it together with the information about how to pay applicable fees to the address of the applicant or representative.

4. How to submit an application

Applications for registration of intellectual property rights shall be submitted:

• in person to the filing office of the Industrial Property Office in Banská Bystrica;
• by post to the office’s address in Banská Bystrica;
• by electronic means:

1. via email (the filing shall be complemented in written form within 1 month, otherwise it shall not be considered submitted);
2. via www.slovensko.sk (electronic services are available only in Slovak) and signed with a qualified electronic signature.

Note: An application submitted electronically which is not authenticated within the meaning of the Act on e-Government shall subsequently be authenticated and submitted in written form within 1 month. The office does not call on applicants to submit additional authentication!

Electronic filing

An electronic filing shall be submitted in the official language via www.slovensko.sk and signed with a qualified electronic signature, otherwise it must be complemented in written form within 1 month. A failure to do so shall result in the application considered not submitted.

An exception to this rule is an electronic filing for a topography of semiconductor products, where an original application in written form shall be submitted within 14 days, even if the electronic filing is signed with a qualified electronic signature.

How to register an industrial property right via an electronic filing?

1. Go to the www.slovensko.sk portal and search for services of the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic.
2. Then select a specific electronic service and click the button ‘Služba’ (‘Service’).
3. Log into the system with an electronic identity card (eID) by placing it in a smart-card reader and entering a six-digit security personal code. For the purposes of the filing, the eID shall also contain a qualified certificate for creating a qualified electronic signature.
4. After logging in, you will access the electronic mailbox whose owner or representative you are.
5. In order to complete the filing properly, the application form and its attachments must be signed with a qualified electronic signature.

When filing applications such as for a collective trade mark, the documents shall be signed by all co-applicants.