One of the main activities of the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria is the keeping and maintenance of registers for industrial property objects, which are administered at national level. These are the State Register of Patents, the State Register of Utility Models, the State Register of Supplementary Protection Certificates, the State Register of Trademarks, the State Register of Geographical Indications, the State Register of Industrial Designs, the State Register of Topologies, the Register of Certificates for New Plant Varieties and Breeds of Animals, Register of European Patent Applications and European Patent Applications, effective on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The circumstances that are subject to entry in the registers are regulated in the Act on Patents and Registration of Utility Models (APRUM), Trademarks and Geographical Indications Act (TMGI), Industrial Design Act (IDA), Act on Protection of New Plant Varieties and Animal Breeds (APNPVAB), Act on the Topology of the Integrated Circuits (ATIC), as well as in the Instruction for keeping, maintaining and providing access to the state registers and to the files of the objects of industrial property.
All data from the submitted applications for protection of the objects of industrial property shall be entered ex officio in the registers. In the event of a change, as well as in the event of the occurrence of new circumstances, subject to entry under the applicable law, a specific request for entry should be submitted.
Depending on the object of industrial property, at the initiative of an interested person, the following circumstances are entered in the registers:
The procedure for the respective entry is initiated by submitting a request by an interested party. Sample entry request forms can be found here.
The request may be filed with the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria, through a postal operator, by fax or electronically (by e-mail [email protected] or Electronic services portal). Where the submission is made by fax or electronically without a qualified electronic signature, the request and the accompanying documents shall be submitted signed with a handwritten or electronic signature.
Compliance with the following requirements shall be verified for each submitted application for entry:
Where irregularities are found in the course of the examination of the request, which can be removed, a notification shall be sent to the sender of the request, which provides an opportunity for their removal within 7 days from the notification. If the irregularities are not remedied in time, the proceedings for consideration of the request shall be terminated.
Decisions on applications for registration (except for a change of name and / or address, withdrawal of a request and / or restriction of its list of goods or services, change of industrial property representative, renewal of registration and extension of term of effect) are taken by the President of the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria or by a Vice President authorized by him/her. The person who submitted the request shall be notified of the entry of the circumstances in the respective register.
The decisions of the President on the requests for registration may be appealed, through the Patent Office, before the respective competent Administrative Court within 14 days from the notification under the Administrative Procedure Code.
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