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Legislative Implementation of Flexibilities - Bulgaria

Title:Articles 24, 25 and 45a of the Law on Patents and Utility Model Registration No. 27/2 of 1993 as last amended on 20/07/2007 (version of 2010 available only in Bulgarian) and Regulation on the Secret Patents of 20/12/2008 (available only in Bulgarian)
Field of IP:Patents
Type of flexibility:Security exceptions
Summary table:PDF

Provisions of Law

Secret Patents

Art. 24. (amended, State Gazette No. 45/2002; amended, State Gazette No. 64/2006, in force as from 09.11.2006) (1) Secret patents shall be granted for secret inventions, applied for by Bulgarian citizens with permanent address in the Republic of Bulgaria or legal persons with principle place of business in the Republic of Bulgaria.

(2) Secret inventions are inventions, which contain classified information representing a state secret within the meaning of Article 25 of the Law on the Protection of Classified Information.

(3) The authorities competent to determine the information security classification level and to remove the level of classification of secret patents shall be the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence.

(4) Secret patent applications shall be filed with the Patent Office, the filing date being the date on which the documents referred to in Article 34(2) are received.

(5) No fees are payable for the acts related to a secret patent application and the grant and maintenance of a secret patent.

(6) A secret patent applications shall be examined in accordance with Article 46(1). Where the requirements are satisfied, a secret patent shall be granted, to which the Patent Office shall place the respective security grading.

(7) Appeals against decisions to terminate the proceedings in a secret patent application, such decisions being based on Article 46(1), as well as requests for invalidation of a secret patent, shall be considered in camera by the Sofia City Court in accordance with the Code of Administrative Procedure. Appeals shall be lodged within three months following receipt of the decision, while requests may be filed throughout the lifetime of the secret patent.

(8) The person entitled to use and dispose of a secret patent shall be determined by decision of the Council of Ministers.

(9) Where the classification level is removed, the competent authority shall notify the Patent Office respectively. The Patent Office shall inform the holder, giving him three months to pay the fees referred to in Article 53, as well as the patent maintenance fee referred to in Article 33(4). On payment of the fees, the patent shall be recorded in the Register of Patents and the publications under Article 51 shall be performed.

(10) The secret patent owner may file a search and examination request after removal of the information security classification level. The request shall be accompanied by a document certifying payment of the search and examination fee under Article 46b(2).

(11) The procedure of determining the information security classification level and removal thereof with respect to applications and secret patents shall be specified in a Secret Patents Regulation adopted by the Council of Ministers.

Patenting Abroad

Art. 25. (amended, State Gazette No. 64/2006, in force as from 09.11.2006) (1) Bulgarian citizens with a permanent address in the Republic of Bulgaria or legal persons with a principle place of business in the Republic of Bulgaria shall have the right to seek patents for their inventions abroad after the examination referred to Article 45a.

(2) Secret patents may not be patented abroad.

Examination as to the Availability of Classified Information

Art. 45a (new, State Gazette No. 64/2006, in force as from 09.11.2006) (1) Where the applicant is a Bulgarian citizen with a permanent address in the Republic of Bulgaria or a legal person with a principle place of business in the Republic of Bulgaria, the competent authorities referred to in Article 24(3) shall, within one month from the filing date of the application, examine it as to whether it contains classified information within the meaning of Article 25 of the Law on the Protection of Classified Information.

(2) Where the application is found to contain classified information, it shall be sent in due order to the competent authorities, and the latter shall, within three months from receipt thereof, determine the level of security classification.

(3) If, on expiry of the term referred to in paragraph (2), no information is received at the Patent Office concerning the security classification level, it shall be considered that the application is not a secret patent application.

(4) Where the application has been filed as a secret patent application and, after the examination referred to in paragraphs (1) to (3), no security classification level has been determined by the competent authorities, the Patent Office shall inform the applicant that the application contains no secret invention and shall ask for his express consent for the application to be examined in accordance with the ordinary provisions. In case no such consent is received within three months, the application shall be deemed to be withdrawn.

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