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Utility models
The rights and obligations arising from the creation and application of utility models are regulated by Act No. 517/2007 Coll. on utility models and on amendment and supplementation of certain acts, as amended (zákon č. 517/2007 Z. z. o úžitkových vzoroch a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov v znení neskorších predpisov). A technical solution is eligible for utility model protection if it is new, is the result of the inventor's activity and is industrially exploitable.
The law gives the applicant for a utility model the possibility of claiming a right of priority from an earlier filed patent application or European patent application. Utility model protection lasts for 4 years from the filing of the utility model application and may be extended twice more, for 3 years each time, at the request of the owner of the utility model.
Four reasons for Utility designs:
- protection against unauthorized use of a technical solution
- the financial inexpensiveness of protection
- monopoly on commercial exploitation
- speed of obtaining protection