HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

PROTECTION OF INVENTIONS

WITH INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY TITLES

5, Pandanassis str., 151 25 Paradissos Amaroussiou – Tel.: +30 210 6183500 – Fax: +30 210 6819231

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

ORGANISATION

OBI was founded in 1987 (Law 1733/1987), as a legal entity under

private law. It is self- financed and has the sole competence for the

protection of inventions and industrial designs in Hellas and

dissemination of technological information through industrial

property titles.

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

Anything that has a technical character

WHAT IS AN INVENTION

Representative categories:

- Devices & machinery

- Individual modules of devices and machinery

- Systems & arrangements of devices & machinery

-Production methods in the field of industry

- Information distribution and processing methods in Information Technology and telecommunication systems

- Chemical substances, compounds & products, as well as their production methods

- Uses of all the aforementioned

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

WHAT IS NOT CONSIDERED AN INVENTION (according to Law N. 1733/87)

• Discoveries

• Scientific Theories

• Mathematical Methods

• Aesthetic Creations

• Programs for computers (software)

• Methods for financial activities

• Presentation of information

• Plant and animal varieties

• Diagnostic Methods

• Therapeutic and surgical methods

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

WHAT IS THE BEST PROTECTION FOR SOFTWARE

The software is patentable ONLY by copyright

If the method (operation, process etc.) performed via the

software has a technical character, is new and inventive THEN

AND ONLY THEN a Patent can be granted

–The technical method performed via the software

regardless the programming language and the

implementation environment, is patentable

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

TO WHOM DOES THE INVENTION BELONG TO

The right to an industrial property title shall belong to the inventor or the beneficiary

If more than one persons have jointly made the invention, the right shall belong to all of them jointly

If more than one persons have made the invention independently of each other, then the right shall belong to the person whose patent application has the earliest date of filing

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

TO WHOM DOES THE INVENTION BELONG TO

If the invention is a service invention (outcome of of

contractual relation between the employer and the

employee), the right belongs to the employer

If the invention is a dependent invention (invention made by

an employee with the use of means of the enterprise in which

he/she is employed), then the right belongs by 40% to the

employer and by 60% to the employee and the application is

jointly filled.

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

BASIC CONDITION FOR THE PROTECTION OF OUR INVENTION

We do not reveal to others the content of our invention before

• we file an application for the protection of our invention or

• we finally abandon the effort to acquire the right to a patent, since in the meantime we have discovered, after the relevant search (ΟΒΙ draws up third party prior art searches after an application is submitted by the interested party), that our idea is already known.

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

FOUR BASIC STEPS FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE INVENTIONS

• 1st step: Third party technological information search (what is already there regarding the invention, prior state of the art)

• 2nd step: Filing a national application for protection in Greece (inexpensive and fast procedure – information about the novelty of an invention by drawing up a search report)

• 3rd step: Interpretation and study of the search report, possibility of redrafting the claims for European or International filing

• 4th step: Filing a European or International (PCT) application (more expensive and more time consuming procedure) claiming the Hellenic priority at the same time.

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

MAIN PROTECTION TITLES

Patent

Utility Model Certificate (UMC)

Certificate of Registration of Industrial Designs or Models

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

PATENT

is granted for

- new inventions

- involving an inventive step

- susceptible of industrial application

It concerns a product, method or use

Is valid for 20 years

The novelty of the invention is checked by drawing up a search report

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

• National

• European

• International

The application for a Patent to be granted can be:

PATENT

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

UTILITY MODEL CERTIFICATE

• Is granted for

- new objects

- with definite shape and form

- industrially applicable

• Is valid for 7 years

• the novelty of the invention is not checked

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

PATENT and UMC GRANTING PROCEDURE

• Formalities check • Corrections • Complements • Search report fee

4months

Drawing up Search Report

Notification

Comments of the applicant

Drawing up Final Search Report

U.M.C

Filing 1. Application (2)

2. Description (2)

3. Claims (2)

4. Abstract option. (2)

5. Drawings optional (2)

6. Filing fees

Patent granting (granting fee payment)

3 months

8 - 11 months

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION OF INDUSTRIAL

DESIGNS OR MODELS

• is granted for

- new designs or models

- with an individual character

• It concerns the outward visible appearance of the whole or part of an

industrial or handicraft product resulting from the specific features

thereof, such as the lines, the outline, the shape, the form or/and the

materials of this product or/and of its decoration

• Possibility of protecting up to 50 designs maximum (multiple

application) provided they all belong to the same subclass

• It is valid for 5 years and can be renewed every 5 years for up to 25

years maximum

HELLENIC INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION

WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR THE REGISTRATION OF

INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS OR MODELS

• Application (2)

• Photographs (2 color or black and white) or

drawings as computer print outs (2) (up to 50)

• Define the Publication’s deferment (up to 12 months)

• Filing fees

• Registration fees for the first 5 years

• Fee for any additional drawing

• Description (optional) (2)

• Authorization

• Define the creator (applicant : legal entity)

• Articles of association

• Publication fee

• Publication fee for any additional design

at filing

4 months after

filing