The acquisition of an exclusive right is a success primarily for its owner, but also for the patent attorney supporting the process of obtaining the right. Having said that, the careful preparation and prosecution of applications for inventions, utility models, industrial designs and trademarks is of equal importance as the observance of the official deadlines for the renewals of rights granted by the Polish Patent Office to maintain them in force.
A patent for an invention is granted for 20 years from the filing date, but once it has been granted, the relevant official fees for protection and publication of the patent description have to be paid timely and then the patent protection has to be renewed annually to avoid unwanted expiration.
Protection for a utility model lasts 10 years as from the filing date, whereas the renewal fees (due after the payment of fees indicated by the Polish Patent Office after the grant, usually for the first protection period covering the first, second and third year) have to be paid for subsequent protection periods, i.e. the second one (4th and 5th year), third one (6th, 7th and 8th year) and fourth one (9th and 10th year).
The registration right for an industrial design lasts 25 years from the filing date, provided that the fees for the consecutive protection periods are paid every 5 years.
Protective rights for trademarks can be maintained indefinitely, provided that the renewal fees are paid every 10 years from the filing date.
We provide services of professional monitoring of official deadlines for payments of fees for protection periods, both in Poland and abroad, as well as services of effecting such payments.