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Legislative Implementation of Flexibilities - Croatia

Title:Articles 29, 36 and 37 of the Patent Act No. 173/2003 of 31/10/ 2003 as last amended by Law OG No 76/2008 of 23/07/2007
Field of IP:Patents
Type of flexibility:Substantive examination
Summary table:PDF

Provisions of Law

Article 29

(1) Upon receipt of a patent application, the Office shall examine whether:

1. the application complies with the requirements for the accordance of the filing date referred to in Article 21 of this Act,

2. the administrative fee and procedural charges for filing the application have been paid in compliance with Article 16 of this Act,

3. the translation of the application in the Croatian language is filed, if the application has been drafted in a foreign language,

4. the drawings referred to in Article 20, paragraph (1), item 4, of this Act have been filed, and

5. the applicant who is a natural or a legal person having domicile or principal place of business outside Croatia is represented by a patent representative entered in the Register of Representatives kept by the Office.

(2) If the application does not comply with the requirements for the acceptance of the filing date referred to in Article 21 of this Act, the Office shall invite the applicant to correct the deficiencies expressly indicated in the invitation, within a time limit of 2 months from the receipt of the invitation.

(3) If the applicant does not comply with the Office invitation within the time limit referred to in paragraph (2) of this Article, the patent application shall be rejected by a decision.

(4) If the applicant corrects the deficiencies within the time limit referred to in paragraph (2) of this Article, the Office shall issue a decision whereby the date of receipt of the required corrections shall be accorded as the filing date of the patent application.

(5) Where a patent application refers to drawings not included in the application, the Office shall invite the applicant to file such within a time limit of 2 months from the receipt of the invitation, and if the applicant complies with the Office invitation, it shall be considered that the filing date is the date of receipt of the drawings by the Office. If the drawings are not filed, it shall be considered that the applicant did not refer to them.

(6) The Office shall invite the applicant who has not paid the administrative fee and procedural charges, or has not submitted the translation of the patent application into the Croatian language, to correct the respective deficiencies within the time limit of 2 months from the receipt of the invitation.

(7) At the reasoned request of the applicant, the Office may extend the time limits set out in this Article, for a time period considered to be justified, but not exceeding 3 months.

(8) If the applicant does not comply with the invitation referred to in paragraph (6) of this Article, the patent application having the accorded filing date shall be considered to be withdrawn and the Office shall issue a decision on the suspension of the patent granting procedure.

Article 36

(1) Within 6 months from the date of publication of a patent application in the official gazette of the Office, the applicant may file:

1. a request for the grant of a patent on the basis of a substantive examination of the patent application, or

2. a request for the grant of a patent on the basis of the submitted results of the substantive examination of a patent application, or

3. a request for the grant of a patent not including a substantive examination of the patent application (a consensual patent).

(2) If, within the prescribed time limit, one of the requests referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article has not been filed, or the administrative fee and the procedural charges have not been paid in compliance with Article 16 of this Act, the patent application shall be considered to be withdrawn, and the Office shall issue a decision on the suspension of the procedure for the grant of the patent.

(3) The content of the request referred to in paragraph (1) shall be defined by the Regulations.

Grant of a Patent on the Basis of the Substantive Examination of a Patent Application

Article 37

(1) The substantive examination of a patent application shall establish whether the invention complies with all the requirements for the grant of the patent, i.e. whether the subject-matter of the application:

1. is an invention which is not excluded from patent protection in compliance with Article 5, paragraph (6) and Articles 6 and 7 of this Act;

2. is an invention which is disclosed in the application in compliance with Article 20, paragraph (4) of this Act;

3. is an invention which is in compliance with the rule of unity of invention referred to in Article 18 of this Act;

4. is an invention which is new in compliance with Articles 8 and 9 of this Act, which includes an inventive step in compliance with Article 10 of this Act, and which is industrially applicable in compliance with Article 11 of this Act.

(2) The Office may carry out the substantive examination of a patent application referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article, completely or in part, through one of the national patent offices of other countries with which it has concluded a cooperation agreement.

(3) The applicant who has also filed a patent application for the protection of the same invention with a national patent office of another country may file with the Office the results of substantive examination carried out by that office, translated into the Croatian language.

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