Design registration in the European Union

1. You fill in the details about the future design according to the form below and pay the attorney’s fee. You can pay by bank transfer.

2. We will contact you within 1 working day. We will conduct a legal consultation and clarify all the details at a convenient day and time for both parties and after that we will start working on the service performance.
We prepare a list of products about which your design will be registered and, if necessary, send it to you for final approval.

3. As your industrial property representative we submit your application to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

4. We send you the confirmation of the application filed along with a power of attorney for the application and instructions for the amount and the payment details for the official fee for the application to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). You review and sign the power of attorney. Notarization is not required. If the design application is on behalf of a company, you also affix the seal of the company. You pay the application fee to the bank account of the the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) according to our instructions.

5.You return the signed power of attorney and a copy of the payment order for the official fee to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). This easiest way to do that is by scanning and sending them to us by e-mail. You can also hand them in person at the address of the law office or send them by courier service.

6. Registration of the design in the EU goes through examination at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). We will inform you if there is a need for your assistance regarding clarifications on the application and if that is requested by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

7, Upon successful completion of the examination at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), your design becomes registered and protected for the territory of all EU member states. We send you the registration certificate electronically via email. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) does not issue paper certificates.

You can learn more about the terms of service in the section “OUR COMMITMENT” below.

Our commitment includes:
• Legal consultation on the protection of your rights. This can be done through a personal meeting at our office, by phone or video call as well;
• Preparation of all necessary documents for filing a design application for registration for the territory of Bulgaria. This includes the application, product list, power of attorney, calculation of applicable government fees, payment instructions, and applications for implementation of instructions of the Patent Office in the course of the design registration;
• Filing the documents with the Patent Office and tracing the application to the end of the registration;;
• Monitoring the deadline for design protection and sending a reminder email to you about the expiration of the protection period.

Our commitment does not include:
• Consultation on accounting issues or preparation of documents that do not have a legal character;
• Representation in disputes regarding the design registration. Regarding these services, we can offer you an individual offer;
• Verification of the originality and novelty of the design;
• Preparation of documents for the renewal of the design registration. For these services, we will offer you an individual offer with a reminder email for the expiration of the design protection period.

Submitting a request for the service is equivalent to entering into a contract for legal protection and assistance with attorney Hristo Raychev. This obliges us to perform the service for you, provided that you have paid the attorney’s fee and submitted all the necessary documents and information.

What expenses will there be in addition to the attorney’s fee?

For the registration of a design in the EU, an official fee is payable to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) amounting to 350 euros.

If you would like to postpone the publication of your design, upon application a fee is payable to the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It amounts to 270 euros for one design, and when publishing the design after the expiration of the deferral period, an additional 120 euros are paid.

Service performance timeframe

We apply for design registration with the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) within 2 working days of the receipt of all necessary documents and information, unless we have agreed on a different deadline. Your rights as a design applicant arise from the date of filing the application. The entire procedure for registering the design at the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is usually completed in a few days.

Confidentiality obligation
Any information that you have provided for the performance of the service, including such provided through email and phone communication, shal be deemed confidential and it should not be subject to disclosure under the Attorney Act (except for the information that is part of public records).

What should the design be like?

The design should represent the external appearance of a product, its packaging, website or platform interface, font, or other. It should be new and original. This means that the design or a design insignificantly different from it should not have been registered, published, communicated, or exploited by another person. The design should not contradict morality and public order. The design should not be determined solely by the technical functionality of the product. In case you are aware of an existing design on the market, regardless of its location worldwide, which is identical or very similar to yours, we recommend choosing another design or contacting us for consultation.

In case you would like to register more than one design, then you might submit a single collective application under certain conditions. This will reduce the state fees payable by you. Based on the information provided by you, we will assess whether such a collective application might work properly for you and how we would optimize your expenses.

How does the design registration procedure work and what does postponement of publication mean?

After filing your design application, the the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) examines the application to verify its compliance with the legal requirements. The EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) does not check ex officio whether your design is original and new, which simplifies the procedure and makes it relatively fast. At the next stage, if the application meets the criteria, the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) decides to register the design and issues an electronic certificate.

You have the option to request postponement of the publication for your design for 30 months from the date of filing of your application. This means that your design will not be published and visible to everyone (this will only happen after the expiration of the 30th month).

What rights does the design registration grant me?

Registration of a design in the EU grants you exclusive rights – as a rule only you can use the design or insignificantly different design. Exploitation by others requires your consent (otherwise, it constitutes a violation of your rights in the design, and you have legal remedies for protection). You can prohibit anyone else from using your design or a design insignificantly different from it.

For how long is my design protected and which countries is the protection valid in?

The term of validity of a design registration is 5 years from the date of filing the application and it can be renewed for four consecutive periods of 5 years each upon payment of the corresponding fee (thus, the maximum protection period might become 25 years).

The design registered with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) provides you with protection for the territory of all EU member states.