Trade marks and designs

Apply directly to the country or countries in which the applicant wishes to obtain protection. The conditions for registration as well as the procedure for filing the trade mark application are governed by the law of the country in which the application is filed.

1. Within the European Union (EU), you can apply for a European Union Trade Mark (EUTM). As of March 23, 2016, an EUTM application can only be filed with the Úradu Európskej únie pre duševné vlastníctvo (EUIPO) 
   A trade mark application can be filed in any of the 23 official languages of the EU, i.e. also in Slovak.

The period of validity of an EU trade mark registration in the Register is ten years from the date of filing the application and the registration may be renewed, always for a period of 10 years at the request of the proprietor, provided that the appropriate fees have been paid. By registering an EU trade mark application, the proprietor acquires the right to use the trade mark throughout the European Union and also the right to prohibit the use of the trade mark by third parties and to claim appropriate and fair compensation in the event of infringement. The proprietor of an EU trade mark has the exclusive right to designate his goods or services by the trade mark for which it is registered or to use it in connection with those goods or services. This method of protection significantly reduces costs compared to the cost of registration in all 27 countries of the European Union.

The basic application fee (Základný poplatok za prihlášku) must be paid within one month from the date of filing of the application for the filing date to be recognised as the date of receipt. The EUIPO does not issue a request for payment.

Filing an application in more than one country in the world is appropriate under the Madrid Agreement or the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement. International registration in the contracting parties to these agreements may be obtained by a single application filed with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva through the Office of the Slovak Republic, provided that the applicant has an establishment or domicile in the territory of the Slovak Republic or is a national of the Slovak Republic. Further information can be obtained in the section Application for international registration of trade marks (Žiadosť o medzinárodný zápis ochranných známok (PDF, 1,7 MB)).