In accordance with the Patent Act (Official Gazette No. 111/2021), the Trademarks Act (Official Gazette No. NN 14/19), and other rules, the State Intellectual Property Office (hereinafter: the Office) conducts the patent and trademark granting procedure on Croatian territory.
Before an application is published or a substantive examination is requested, the new Patent Act requires a preliminary prior art search. It offers an optional preliminary written opinion on an invention’s patentability at an early stage of the examination process. To lower examination costs for applications that do not meet patentability requirements, the new patent examination procedure now includes separate fees for the prior art search, opinion on patentability, and substantive examination.
Before the new Patent Act’s effective date of February 20, 2020, all applicants were required to pay the entire examination fee; as a result, all patent applications submitted before that date are still subject to the old Patent Act’s examination procedures.
Filing requirements
To receive a filing date, a patent application in Croatia must include the following information:
- an express statement that the grant of a patent is sought;
- the applicant’s name, or company name, and residence or principal place of business;
- a description of the invention and one or more patent claims.
Novelty grace period
It would not invalidate the invention’s novelty if information about it were disclosed within six months of the filing date at an official or internationally acknowledged exhibition, as well as if there was clear mistreatment of the patent applicant or his predecessor.
Validity term
As of the day a patent application was filed, the protection for a patent issued based on the findings of a substantive examination shall last for 20 years, and for a consensual patent, it shall last for 10 years.
Utility model
It is possible to file a utility model in Croatia. The utility model is valid for ten years following the filing date. The Office checks to see if the application was submitted properly and the innovation qualifies for utility model protection. There can be no more than ten claims in the utility model application. The Office does not consider the invention’s novelty, inventiveness, or industrial usefulness. To ascertain whether the invention is novel, imaginative, and industrially useful, the proprietor may request a thorough analysis of the utility model. This request must be made no later than the seventh year of use.
Also, get in touch with us of Croatia trademark registration.