Office

History

The Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as the "IPO SR") was established on 1 January 1993 by the Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 2/1993 Coll. of 16 December 1992, which amended and supplemented the Act of the Slovak National Council No. 347/1990 Coll. on the organisation of ministries and other central government bodies of the Slovak Republic, as amended by later regulations. According to this Act, the Slovak Office for the Protection of Patents, Designs, Utility Models, Topographies of Semiconductor Products, Trademarks and Apellations of Origin of Products was the central body of the Slovak Republic's state administration, and this Act also established its basic competences, such as deciding on the granting of inventions, designs, utility models, topographies of semiconductor products, trademarks, apellations of origin of products. (Currently, the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic is the central state administration body for the field of industrial property and performs this task on the basis of Act No 575/2001 Coll. on the organisation of government activities and the organisation of the central state administration, as amended. It performs state administration in the field of protection of inventions, designs, utility models, topographies of semiconductor products, trademarks, apellations of origin of products. It maintains the central fund of patent and trade mark documentation, makes it available to the public and acts as a specialised patent information centre in the Slovak Republic.

After the establishment of the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic, the primary task was to ensure the registration of applications for industrial property so as not to break the continuity of the former Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. This was achieved thanks to the staff of the former FÚV in Bratislava, who ensured the basic conditions for these activities so that they could be carried out by the Office of the Slovak Republic from the very first day of its establishment.

The Slovak Republic, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, declared its accession to all international agreements on the protection of industrial property to which the Czechoslovak Republic was a member. By this step, the Slovak Republic continued the active work of the previous common state within the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

Already in the first year of its activity, the IPO SR participated in the meetings of this organization and established cooperation with the European Patent OffIce and several national patent offices. Another no less important task was to ensure the continuity of industrial property protection after the former CSFR, to complete the staffing and material development of the IPO SR and, last but not least, to ensure its suitable spatial location.

Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 74/1995 Coll. of 6 April 1995, which amended and supplemented Act of the Slovak National Council No. 347/1990 Coll. on the organisation of ministries and other central state administration bodies of the Slovak Republic, as amended, the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic changed its seat from Bratislava to Banská Bystrica, where it was possible to obtain a suitable building for the Office.

92% of the new staff, mostly very young, linguistically trained staff, were recruited following competitive recruitment procedures.

During 1996, the Office was upgraded to a typical patent, design and trademark office.

The specialized building on Švermova Street in Banská Bystrica was inaugurated by the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Arpad Bogsch, in the presence of Mr. Jeno Bobrovszke, WIPO representative, Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Sergey Kozlik, President of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Milan Čič, and the Mayor of Banská Bystrica, Mr. Igor Presperín.