INFORMATION FROM THE CONTRACTING / EXTENSION STATES
CZ Czech Republic
Impact of the European Patent Convention on national law
On 1 July 2002, the Czech Republic became a contracting state to the EPC. Provisions implementing the EPC and bringing Czech patent law into line with the EPC are contained in the Patent Act of the Czech Republic as amended by subsequent laws.
A. National legal bases
1. Patent Act (PA): Law No. 527/1990 Coll., on Inventions and Rationalisation proposals, as amended by subsequent Laws (complete version published as No. 3/2001 Coll. )
2. Law No. 206/2000 Coll., on the Protection of Biotechnological Inventions
3. Law No. 191/1999 Coll., on measures concerning entry, export and re-export of goods infringing certain intellectual property rights, as amended by subsequent Laws
4. Law No. 368/1992 Coll., on administrative fees as amended by subsequent Laws
5. Law No. 173/2002 Coll., on renewal fees for patents and supplementary protection certificates for pharmaceuticals and plant protection products
6. Law No. 71/1967 Coll., on Administrative Procedure (Administrative Procedure Code) as amended by subsequent Laws
7. Law No. 150/2002 Coll. on the Administrative Court Procedure
8. Decree No. 550/1990 Coll. on the Procedure in Matters of Inventions and Industrial Designs as amended by Decree No. 21/2002 Coll.
B. Application of the EPC in the Czech Republic
The main provisions relating to the application of the EPC in the Czech Republic are summarised below:
The information is structured in the same way as in the EPO brochure "National Law relating to the EPC".
I. Filing of European patent applications (Article 75 EPC, Section 24(3) PA)
A European patent application, except a European divisional application, may be filed either with the EPO or with the Czech Industrial Property Office (IPO):
Industrial Property Office
Antonína Čermáka 2a
160 68 Prague 6
Czech Republic
A European patent may be filed with the IPO in any of the languages under Article 14(1) and (2) EPC. Filing of applications with the IPO by facsimile is permitted.
European patent applications containing matters that must be kept secret under special regulations must be filed with the IPO.
II. A. Rights conferred by a European patent application after publication (Articles 67 and 93 EPC, Section 35a(4) PA)
Under Section 35a(4) PA, a published European patent application designating the Czech Republic enjoys provisional protection as from the date on which the availability to the public of a Czech translation of the claims is made known by a mention in the Bulletin of the IPO. The applicant can claim compensation reasonable in the circumstances but only after the patent, granted by the European Patent Office, has become effective in the Czech Republic under Section 35c(2) PA.
II. B. Filing a translation of the claims (Article 67(3) EPC, Section 35a(4) PA)
The translation of the claims must be drawn up in Czech and contain the name and address of the applicant, the EP application and publication number and the title of the invention in Czech. The translation of the claims will not be made available to the public and the mention in the Bulletin of the IPO will not be published until the fee for publication has been paid.1
Documents meeting the formal requirements of Rule 35(3) to (14) EPC are accepted.
Applicants with neither residence nor headquarters on the territory of the Czech Republic must be represented by a Czech patent attorney or legal practitioner (Section 70 PA).
III. Filing translations of the patent specification (Article 65 EPC, Sections 35c, 35f PA)
The European patent has effect in the Czech Republic only if the proprietor of the patent supplies the IPO with the Czech translation of the text with which the EPO intends to grant the patent within three months of the date on which the mention of the grant is published in the European Patent Bulletin (Section 35c(2) PA). If the Czech translation of the European patent specification is not submitted within this period, the proprietor of the European patent may still submit it within an additional period of three months, provided that the respective surcharge is paid (Section 35c(3) PA). Upon filing the translation the patentee must also pay the fee for the publication of the translation.2 In the event of failure to observe these requirements, the European patent will be deemed to be void ab initio in the Czech Republic (Section 35c(4) PA).
If a European patent is maintained in amended form in opposition proceedings, its proprietor must submit to the IPO the Czech translation of the amended text of the patent specification and pay the publication fee within three months of the mention of this amendment in the European Patent Bulletin. The IPO Bulletin will announce the maintaining of the European patent in amended form and publish the translation of the amended text of the patent specification. If the Czech translation of the amended text of the European patent specification is not submitted by that time limit, the European patent will be considered in the Czech Republic as null and void from the outset; in this case no additional period is available.3
Documents meeting the formal requirements of Rule 35(3) to (14) EPC are accepted.
Applicants with neither residence nor headquarters in the territory of the Czech Republic must be represented by a Czech patent attorney or legal practitioner (Section 70 PA).
IV. Authentic text of a European patent application or European patent (Article 70 EPC, Sections 35a(5), 35d(1), 35f(6) PA)
Third parties can refer to the Czech translation of the European patent application or patent if the scope of protection is narrower than in the language of proceedings (Sections 35a(5), 35d(1) PA) ; this does not apply, however, in revocation proceedings (Section 35f(6) PA).
The applicant for or proprietor of a European patent may, at any time, supply a corrected translation, subject to the payment of the prescribed publication fee.4 If the applicant files with the IPO a corrected Czech translation of the patent claims or of the European patent specification, the corrected translation shall have effect instead of the original translation as from the date of the publication of the corrected translation by the IPO (Section 35a(6), first sentence, Section 35d(2) PA).
Regarding the rights of a prior user where a translation is corrected, Section 35a(6), second sentence, and Section 35d (3) PA provide for the safeguards mentioned in Article 70(4)(b) EPC.
V. Payment of renewal fees for European patents (Article 141 EPC, Section 35g PA)
Renewal fees in respect of European patents requesting protection in the Czech Republic must be paid to the IPO in advance for each patent year following the year, in which the European Patent Office publishes the mention of the grant of the European patent. Each patent year starts from the anniversary of the filing date of the patent application. The renewal fees for each subsequent patent year are due in advance on the anniversary of the date of filing the application. However, if the period between the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent and the anniversary of the date of filing the application is shorter than two months, the time limit for the payment of the first renewal fee which is to be paid to the IPO is two months from the date of the publication of the mention of the grant.
In case of failure to observe the time limit referred to above, renewal fees may still be paid within a period of grace of six months from the due date provided that the double amount is paid. The rights of third persons, which after the expiry of the period for payment of the maintenance fee without such fee being paid, in good faith have begun to make use of the subject-matter of the invention or have realised serious and effective preparations for such use, are not affected by the additional payment of the maintenance fee.5
The appointment of a national professional representative is not necessary for the payment of renewal fees.
Renewal fees are currently as follows (Annex to Law on Renewal fees):
Year | CZK |
|---|---|
1st |
1 000 |
2nd |
1 000 |
3rd |
1 000 |
4th |
1 000 |
5th |
2 000 |
6th |
2 000 |
7th |
2 000 |
8th |
2 000 |
9th |
3 000 |
10th |
4 000 |
11th |
6 000 |
12th |
8 000 |
13th |
10 000 |
14th |
12 000 |
15th |
14 000 |
16th |
16 000 |
17th |
18 000 |
18th |
20 000 |
19th |
22 000 |
20th |
24 000 |
VI. Conversion of European patent applications into national patent applications (Articles 135 to 137 EPC, Section 35b PA)
The Czech law provides for conversion into a national application for a patent or a utility model in the case of deemed withdrawal pursuant to Article 77(5) EPC. If the IPO was the receiving Office, the applicant must request the conversion within three months of the date of notification to the applicant that the application is deemed to be withdrawn. If the European patent application was filed with another national authority, the request for conversion must be received by the IPO within 20 months of the date of priority.
Within three months of notification of an invitation by the IPO, the applicant must submit the Czech translation of the application in triplicate and pay the national filing fee.
All these procedural steps must be taken by a national professional representative.
VII. Payment of fees
The accounts of the IPO are kept by the Czech National Bank, Příkopy 28, Prague 1, Czech Republic, SWIFT: CNBA CZPP. Renewal fees for European patents must be paid into account No. 35 - 21526001 / 0710 (IBAN: CZ95 0710 0000 3500 2152 6001). Other fees must be paid into account No. 3711 - 21526001 / 0710 (IBAN: CZ36 0710 0037 1100 2152 6001).
The methods of payment are (the date considered as the effective date of payment is indicated in brackets):
(a) cash payment (date of receipt of payment at IPO)
(b) postal money order (date on which the postal money order is handed in at a post office)
(c) bank cheque (date of receipt of the cheque at the IPO, provided the cheque is met)
(d) transfer to the account of the IPO (date on which amount is written off from the fee payer account)
VIII. Miscellaneous
1. Simultaneous protection (Article 139(3) EPC)
The Czech patent law excludes the simultaneous protection according to Article 139(3) EPC (Section 35e PA).
2. Territorial field of application of the EPC (Article 168 EPC)
The EPC applies in the territory of the Czech Republic.
C. Amendment of Czech patent law
1. Patentability (Sections 3-7 PA)
The patentability criteria (concept of invention, novelty, inventive step, industrial application) are fully consistent with those of the EPC (Articles 52 to 57 EPC).
2. Term of the patent (Section 21 PA)
A patent is granted for a term of 20 years as from the date of filing the application.
3. Rights conferred by the patent
The rights conferred by the patent reflect the provisions of the Community Patent Convention (see Article 25ff CPC 1989).
4. Extent of protection (Section 12)
The extent of the protection is determined by the claims. The description and the drawings will be used to interpret the claims.
D. Other international treaties
The Patent Cooperation Treaty took effect in the Czech Republic on 1 July 1992. Since 1 July 2002 it has been possible to obtain a European patent for the Czech Republic by filing a Euro-PCT application.
The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure took effect in the Czech Republic on 5 August 1989.
The TRIPS Agreement took effect in the Czech Republic on 1 January 1995.
The International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) took effect in the Czech Republic on 4 December 1991. The Czech Republic is bound as of 24 November 2002 by the 1991 Act.
The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property took effect in the Czech Republic on 5 October 1919. The Czech Republic is bound as of 29 December 1970 by the Stockholm Act of the Paris Convention.
The Strasbourg Agreement concerning the International Patent Classification took effect in the Czech Republic on 3 August 1978.
E. Updating of the information brochure "National law relating to the EPC"
Users of the EPO information brochure "National law relating to the EPC" (12th edition) are asked to enter the following corrections:
1. In table IV, column 11, re the Czech Republic:
The additional time limit of three months for filing the Czech translation of the patent specification provided for in Section 35c(3) PA does not apply if a European patent is maintained in amended form in opposition proceedings. In the latter case, the proprietor of the patent must submit to the IPO the Czech translation of the amended text of the patent specification and pay the publication fee within three months of the mention of this amendment in the European Patent Bulletin. The IPO will announce the maintaining of the European patent in amended form in the IPO Bulletin and will publish the translation of the amended text of the patent specification (Section 35f (3) PA). If the Czech translation of the amended text of the European patent specification is not submitted by that time limit, the European patent will be considered in the Czech Republic as null and void from the outset (Section 35f(4) PA).
2. In table VI, column 5, re the Czech Republic:
"Under Section 11(1)(a) of Law No. 173/2002 Coll. on renewal fees for patents and supplementary protection certificates for pharmaceuticals and plant protection products, restitutio in integrum is excluded in the case of failure to pay renewal fees."