Procedure of the Acquisition of the Design Patent

As the practice has shown, the procedure of the design’s registration on Ukraine takes up to 8-10 months.

The only authority which is eligible to grant patents to the industrial designs, is the State Department of Intellectual Property . The patent applications shall be filed to the Institute of Industrial property of Ukraine (Ukrpatent) , which is the subdivision of the Department.

Upon the filing of the application claim the following documents must be enclosed:

• patent on industrial design’ application form;
• image of the design;
• the design’s description.

Except of this, the state patent application fee shall be paid in order and amount as stipulated by the current legislation.

The Applicant is the author of a design, the author’s employer, or the author’s successor. The application can be filed by the natural as well as legal person (resident or non-resident), in person or through the authorized representative on the ground of powers of attorney. In the latter cases the power of attorney issued for the submission of the patent application and other actions, shall be enclosed together with the registration claim’s documents.

Each design’s patent application claim is examined by the Ukrpatent in two stages:

• determination of the date of filing of the application – the application is examined from the point of presence of all the required documents and information, and the fact of payment of the relevant fee is ascertained. In case of suffiency of all the documents and their consistency with the official requirements, the claimant receives the notification on the determined date of the application’s filing
• patent examination – Here the consistency of the submitted documents with the requirements established under the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of Rights to Industrial Designs” ”, is being checked. The design is then classified under the International Classification of Industrial Designs. In case of any inconsistency the claimant receives the notification where all the inconsistencies are stated. The claimant has the right to correct all the mistakes and amend the materials of the patent application within 2 months. If the application’s documents meet all the legal requirements, the applicant receives the positive decision on the issue of patent on the industrial design

Upon the delivery of the positive decision the claimant shall pay the state fee for the issue of patent together with the fee for publication of the information on patent, in the state registry in the amount as stipulated by the law.

Upon the payment of fees the information on the issue of the respective design’s patent is published in the official bulletin “Industrial Property” and is simultaneously included in the state registry. The claimant thus receives the patent on the industrial design, and obtains the status of owner of the exclusive rights on design.