Patent & Trademark Attorney Office Slovenia

Patent

Requirements for filing a national patent application in Slovenia (and for PCT National Phase* in Slovenia)

1.	Exact and full (company) name and address of the applicant.
2.	Exact and full name and address of the inventor(s).
3.	Patent description with patent title, patent claims, abstract and optional drawings.
4.	Translation of patent description, claims and abstract into Slovenian language if they were filed in foreign language.
5.	Priority date, country and application number, if priority is claimed. Priority Certificate is not required.
6.	Power of Attorney duly signed by the applicant; notarization or legalization is not required.

Please note: Requirements 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 have to be fulfilled at the time of filing an application. The Power of Attorney may be filed subsequently within three months from the application date.
*Direct national phase under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) to Slovenia is abolished for all PCT patent applications with the international filing date later than December 1, 2002. Such a PCT application can reach Slovenia only through extension of a European Patent (EP) to Slovenia.

Document of Evidence (DOE)
According to the Slovenian Industrial Property Law the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office, (SIPO) does not perform an examination of substantive requirements for granting a patent (novelty, inventive step and susceptibility of industrial application). The patent is granted if all formal requirements are met, and at the same time as the patent application is published in the Official Bulletin. Although granted, such unexamined patent cannot be the basis for an infringement lawsuit in court.

For the patent to become enforceable in court, a Document of Evidence (DOE) must be submitted to the SIPO. It has to prove that the patented invention fulfils all above-mentioned substantive requirements. In other words, SIPO practices a kind of "deferred examination" where DOE replaces the substantive examination. The DOE should be submitted before the end of the ninth year from the application date. If DOE is not submitted in due time, the patent expires by the end of the tenth year from the application date. The DOE is not required for a granted European patent extended to Slovenia.

The DOE can be one of the following documents:

	A Slovene translation of a European patent (or several European patents) granted for the same invention by the European Patent Office. The complete patent specification needs to be translated into Slovenian language.
	If no application for a European patent has been filed, the DOE can be a Slovene translation of a patent for the same invention granted, following substantive examination, by any authority having the status of a Preliminary Examination Authority under Article 32 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The complete patent specification needs to be translated into Slovenian language.
	If the patent holder has no document indicated under item 1) or 2) above, he may request that the SIPO obtains relevant data and opinions from any of the authorities or offices listed under item 2) above, which will be considered as the DOE.

Important: If a document indicated under item 2) above is submitted as the DOE, a patent holder must submit also a list and copies of all other patents for the same invention which could be considered as the DOE, including particulars of the patent applications and patents which have been refused. If the list and the copies are not submitted together with the DOE, the DOE is deemed not to be submitted

Relevant articles (91-93) of the Law concerning DOE.

Validation of the European Patent in Slovenia
Slovenia became a full member state of the European patent system based on the European Patent Convention (EPC) on December 1, 2002. The applicant of a European patent should designate Slovenia in the application form and pay the designation fee to the European Patent Office. After European patent has been granted, it can be validated in Slovenia by submitting the translation of the patent claims into Slovenian with the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office within 3 months from the publication of the granted European patent. The translation of the patent specification is not required. Such validated European patent is enforceable in court and it can last for 20 years; therefore, submitting of DOE is not necessary.