Products and services

You will use your brand in your business every day. Do you already know that your brand, logo, brand are not automatically protected against copying and use by other people?

The solution is to register your trademark at the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic. Registered trademark:
• Will increase the value of your company, product or service,
• Helps to differ your products and services,
• It is an asset of your company – the value of the trademark in money is often even higher than other assets of the company,
• It will help you build your identity,
• Protects the product or service from being used, copied, or counterfeited,
• It will help you avoid disputes with competitors,
• It will help you grow economically and develop your company,
• The trademark is valid for 10 years, but you can renew it indefinitely.

A trademark application costs from 96 Euros if you register it electronically. How do you register a trademark? Very simply, you can find a short video tutorial here.

You can have a trademark if you use the Fast Track service, published within 30 working days of the filing date.

Beware of fraudsters! The Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic is the only registration authority for trademarks in Slovakia.

If you need general information, do not hesitate to contact us on +421 48 43 00 111 or by email at infocentrum(zavináč)indprop.gov.sk. When registering intellectual property rights, you can use the services of patent attorneys or lawyers.

Company visit is our free information service for startups, small, medium and large enterprises. During the visit, we will provide you with information about the hidden potential of IP.

This information can help you to avoid major problems with financial impact; copying the brand and innovations, paying compensation for infringement of competition rights, costs associated with rebranding and the like.

During your visit, you will receive value-added information from our employees and useful tips:
• How to build a brand, product or service through intellectual property,
• How to protect the product or service from use, copying or counterfeiting,
• When to protect the company's intellectual property and when to use a different strategy,
• How to prevent disputes with competitors in time,
• Who to turn to when creating a strategy to protect your brand, products and services,
• How much will it cost to protect your innovations,
• How to get financial support for the protection of your products and services,

Our visit costs only one hour of your time. If you are interested in visiting your company, contact us on +421 48 43 00 261 or +421 48 43 00 111 or by email at infocentrum(zavináč)indprop.gov.sk.

Note: Company visit represents an information and popularization service in the field of IP. It does not serve for the purpose of calling for the submission of applications for IP rights, consultations for the submission of applications, solving situations that have arisen in the company in question or as a substitute for the activities of patent attorneys.

Don't have time for the lengthy registration of your industrial rights? We will handle your industrial rights proceedings faster!

•    Fast Track Patents: we grant within 24 months,
•    Fast Track Utility Models: we will enter them in the register within 6 months,
•    Fast Track Trademarks: we will publish in the register within 30 working days,
•    Fast Track Designs: we will register within 45 working days from the submission of the application.

Do you have an idea or a product and how to properly protect it? There are several ways. You can register a trademark, negotiate confidentiality with suppliers, check copyrights, resolve trade secret or domain protection. But where to start?

Use the IP Scan service - a professional diagnosis of IP for your company! As part of the IP Scan service, an expert will analyze your business model and products with the aim of creating a strategy in the field of intellectual property. Based on the analysis, you will find out what are the priority areas that need attention and that need to be solved.

IP Scan is suitable for you if:
•    you are a small or medium-sized enterprise and you want to create a strategy for the protection of your ideas, products or innovations,
•    you want to get an overview and specific recommendations about the possibilities of IP protection in Slovakia and abroad,
•    you want to know how to get financial contributions in the field of IP.

In addition, small and medium-sized enterprises that opt for IP Scan can apply for a voucher to reimburse 90% of the cost of IP Scan and thus save €720 in reimbursement of costs related to the implementation of this service. You can request a voucher for the IP Scan service from January 22, 2024.

Who will provide me with the IP Scan service?

IP Scan is performed by selected patent attorneys and attorneys. You can find the list of providers by clicking on this link.

Where can I find more information about the IP Scan service?

Are you an entrepreneur interested in the IP Scan service? Are you a lawyer or a patent attorney and are you interested in providing the IP Scan service? For more information, click this link to find our answers to frequently asked questions.

If you have any questions, you can also contact the information center of the ÚPV SR, either by e-mail at ipscan(zavináč)indprop.gov.sk or by phone at +421 48/43 00 111 or +421 48/43 00 131.

For up-to-date information about the IP Scan service, we recommend following the website of the IPO SR in the News section, the social networks of the IPO SR, or the website of the EUIPO SME Fund, or registering for the newsletter for SMEs from EUIPO.

If you are a small or medium-sized business, you can apply to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for reimbursement of your fees for the IP Scan service, trademarks, patents, designs and plant variety protection.

The fund offers you the following options:

• Voucher 1 for the IP Scan Service up to EUR 800: An expert will analyze your business model and products in order to create a strategy in the field of intellectual property. Based on the analysis, you will find out what are the priority areas that need attention and that need to be solved. You can get a refund of up to 90% of the service price (maximum 720 Euro) for the IP Scan service. For more information on IP Scan and refunds, please see the IP Scan: Consult IP Strategy Experts section below.

• Voucher 2 for Trademarks and Designs up to EUR 1000: When registering trademarks and designs, you can request reimbursement of 75% of the amount of fees for the application of a national, regional or EU trademark and/or design. It is also possible to refund half of the fees for the basic trademark and/or design application filed in a non-EU country.

• Voucher 3 for Patents up to EUR 3,500: If they are patents, you can request reimbursement of 75% of the fees for a research report on the state of the art prior to applying for a patent, which will be prepared for you by the IPO SR or the Visegrad Patent Institute. You can also request reimbursement of 75% of the amount of fees for the preliminary grant of a patent (filing, search and survey), for the grant and publication of a patent in an EU country, as well as for the filing and search of European patents filed at the European Patent Office (EPO). You can also request a refund of half of the costs of representation when drafting and filing new European patent applications at the European Patent Office (up to a maximum of EUR 2,000).

• Voucher 4 for Plant varieties up to EUR 1,500: If it is a Community (EU) plant variety, you can request reimbursement of 75% of the amount of fees for the online application of Community plant variety rights.

You can apply for the mentioned grants via the EUIPO SME Fund website from 22 January 2024.

If you need general information, do not hesitate to contact us on +421 48 43 00 131 or by email at infocentrum(zavináč)indprop.gov.sk, or visit the website of the SME Fund.

Use vouchers to support your innovations

The Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency (SIEA) provides innovation vouchers through the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic.

Vouchers support entrepreneurs not only in financing research, development and innovation, making public funds more efficient, but also in networking the academic and private sectors and building capacities in the private sector. With regard to innovation vouchers, the support provided within the call is aimed at solving a specific task/problem/requirement of the applicant related to his innovation activities. At the same time, as part of this support, it will be possible to reimburse the applicant's expenses for administrative and maintenance fees related to the submission of applications for the protection of industrial property rights in Slovakia and abroad.

Innovation vouchers are financed from the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic, while the required value of the innovation voucher is a maximum of 85% of the total eligible expenses of the project.

For more information, contact the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency by email at vouchery.planobnovy(zavináč)siea.gov.sk, or on the website of the Research and Innovation Authority of the Slovak Government.

Do you want to have an overview of the latest technical solutions, innovations, logos, signs or designs that the competition is protecting? Use our monitoring service! We offer three types of monitoring: monitoring of Trademarks, Patents or Designs.

Our experts will regularly monitor for you the status of patents, designs, or trademarks in your chosen area and in the countries you choose. You will have a regular overview of the latest state of the art and development trends in the area you are interested in. We can send you the overview monthly or weekly, depending on your requirements.

The price of monitoring is as follows:
• Patent monitoring - from €10.00,
• Trademark monitoring - from €6.00,
• Design monitoring – from €5.00.

If you are interested in the service, please contact the information center of the IPO SR, either by e-mail at infocentrum(zavináč)indprop.gov.sk or by phone at  + 421 48/43 00 276 or +421 48/43 00 131.

A search for IP rights is suitable for you if:
• before submitting an application, you need to find out whether the innovation or designation is no longer protected
• you want to prevent infringement of the rights of other subjects
• you are going to introduce an innovation or a new brand, products or services to the market
• you want to have an overview of potential competition on the domestic and foreign markets.

The IPO SR provides three types of searches for you: patent search, design search and trademark search. Searches are conducted in available databases and information sources.

You can order a patent search as a state-of-the-art search or as a search with comments. During the patent search for the state of the art, you enter keywords or patent classification symbols that relate to the product, device or technology. You can prepare the keywords in the assignment yourself or after consulting our expert. The more specific and detailed the search query is, the more relevant the search results are. Based on the search, you will receive a search report that contains an unstructured list of found documents (with a link to documents in freely available databases). When selecting a patent search with commentary, you will receive a structured search report supplemented with a commentary on the content of each document in the list. The documents in the search report also contain a degree of relevance to the keywords. You can find more information about patent search with commentary in this document. You can view a sample search report by clicking here.

Protecting valuable designs is part of the business strategy of designers and manufacturers. Research on the appearance of the product can help you reduce investments and save funds for the protection of your product. You can also avoid lawsuits if it turns out that the design is already owned by someone else. We search for the appearance of the product in national as well as international databases. An image of the product is part of the search order.

Your mark, logo, brand are not automatically protected against copying and use by other persons. The solution is to register your trademark at the Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic. Before that, a search for trademarks can help you. By doing a search, you can prevent the infringement of competitor's trademark rights. You can perform the search independently via search tools (web register of the IPO SR, Czech trademark register, international trademark register, Community trademark register, TMView register), or use our trademark search. After ordering the service, we will prepare a search report that contains the results according to your input - word, image element or their combination. For an additional fee, we will arrange the search also express, within 24 hours of your order.

How much will the search cost you?

• Patent research on the state of the art from €90
• Patent search with commentary from €150
• Search for product appearance (design) from €60
• Trademark search from €20.

How can you order a search?

Download and complete the Search Order form found at this link or on our website under Documents and Forms. Send the completed form to resers(zavináč)indprop.gov.sk, or by post to the address of the office.

If you have questions about searches, contact us by phone at +421 48 43 00 276 (patent or design search), or at +421 48 43 00 123 and +421 48 43 00 127 (trademark searches), or by email at resers(zavináč)indprop.gov.sk.

Note: The documents contained in the search report are generally valid for the territory of the Slovak Republic and have an exclusively informative nature. Searches are carried out by the office's employees in the information sources available at the IPO SR as of the date of the search. The results of searches in the form of a search report are not the basis for issuing a decision of the IPO SR, nor for any other legal acts, e.g. for actions related to proceedings in the matter of any IP application filed in the Slovak Republic or abroad.

Mediation is an out-of-court form of dispute resolution in which disputes from contracts or other relationships are resolved through a mediator. Mediation is also suitable for intellectual property (trademarks, designs, patents or copyrights) if their owners believe they are being infringed.

 The Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic motivates entrepreneurs to use the WIN-WIN TRACK option, i.e. request an extra time for an amicable settlement of the trademark dispute.

 Why is mediation beneficial for my business?

 

•             Saves your money and time – mediation can solve several disputes at the same time, which could not be solved simultaneously in one court proceeding.

•             It is voluntary - you as participants have complete control over the mediation.

•             It is confidential - as participants you discuss in an environment where you can focus on finding a solution without fear of divulging trade secrets.

•             It is flexible – the participants have an equal say in the mediation and decide for themselves the terms of the settlement.

 

 

Who will provide me with mediation services?

 A mediator is any natural person registered in the register of mediators of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. The persons participating in the mediation agree on the mediator and then conclude an agreement with him on the initiation of the mediation.

 The Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic maintains a register of mediators and mediation centers on its website.

 

What if I am interested in mediating an international dispute?

 In the event of an international dispute, we recommend contacting the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva by completing this form, which is available in six languages.

 You can learn more about international mediation and the proceedings of the WIPO Center in the Guide to Mediation under the Rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization and in the Mediation Rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

 

Where can I learn more?

 Intellectual property offices support the amicable settlement of intellectual property disputes and can inform you of existing alternative dispute resolution options. For more information, you can contact:

• Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic

• European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)

• Arbitration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

 

You can also learn more about mediation in the short document Alternative resolution of disputes in the field of intellectual property.

Come and be inspired at our free regular events and value-added workshops focused on intellectual property protection for entrepreneurs.

Why attend our events:
• We select for you interesting topics related to the protection of your brand, name, or innovations. Learn how to protect products or services from being used, copied, or counterfeited. Learn how to avoid disputes with competitors over IP,
• We invite inspiring guests from the ranks of entrepreneurs, scientists, and marketing specialists to discussions and interviews, with whom you can talk,
• We also organize events for startups, small and large businesses that are looking for a competitive world,
• You have space for networking at the event,
• You can visit the events in person, watch them online, or watch the recording on our YouTube channel.

You can find information about our upcoming events in the Events section of the website, as well as on our social networks. In case of questions, you can contact us at podujatia(zavináč)indprop.gov.sk.