Legislative Implementation of Flexibilities - Bulgaria

Title:	Articles 73-73d of the Law on Patents and Utility model Registration (Title amended, State Gazette No. 64/2006; in force as from 09/11/2006)
Field of IP:	Patents
Type of flexibility:	Utility models
Summary table:

Provisions of Law

Patentable Utility Models

Art. 73. (amended, State Gazette No. 64/2006, in force as from 09.11.2006) (1) Legal protection for utility models shall be granted through registration with the Patent Office. The registration shall have effect with respect to third parties as of the date of publication in the Official Bulletin of the Patent Office.

(2) The right to a registration shall belong to the person who has the right to file an application under Article 13.

(3) Utility models shall be registered, which are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application.

(4) The objects referred to in Articles 6(2) and (4) shall not be regarded as utility models, in so far as legal protection is sought for them as such.

(5) No utility model registration shall be granted to biotechnological inventions within the meaning of Article 7a, methods, chemical compounds or the use thereof, and the objects referred to in Article 7.

Novelty

Art. 73a (new, State Gazette No. 64/2006, in force as from 09.11.2006)

(1) A utility model shall be considered to be new if it does not form part of the state of the art.

(2) The state of the art shall be held to comprise:

1. everything made available to the public through use in the Republic of Bulgaria by means of a written or oral description or in any other way, anywhere in the world, before the filing date or the priority date, as appropriate, of the utility model application.

2. the contents of all national, European and international applications referred to in Article 8(3)and (4).

Disclosure Which is not Prejudicial to Novelty

Art.73b (new, State Gazette No. 64/2006, in force as from 09.11.2006) (1) A disclosure of the utility model shall not be prejudicial to novelty if it was carried out within twelve months preceding the filing date or the priority date, as appropriate, of the application for registration by:

1. the applicant or his grantor;

2. a third party in an evident abuse with respect to the applicant or his grantor.

(2) The privilege under paragraph (1) may be claimed at any time.

Inventive StepArt.73c (new, State Gazette No. 64/2006, in force as from 09.11.2006) A utility model shall be considered to involve an inventive step if a person possessing ordinary knowledge and skills in the art cannot easily realize it on the basis of the state of the art under Article 73a(2) item 1.

Industrial Applicability

Art.73d (new, State Gazette No. 64/2006, in force as from 09.11.2006) The industrial applicability of utility models shall be determined in accordance with Article 10.