BG - Federated Register Service

1

Status

Yes

• Request for EP validation received - this is the initial status assigned to a patent upon validation request receipt.

• Formalities in progress - this status indicates that the validation procedure is in progress and/or fulfilment of any formalities required are pending.

• Patent in force - the patent that was validated in a country and continues to be valid in Bulgaria.

• Patent not validated - the patent has never been validated for Bulgaria; in this case no specific invalidity date can be provided.

• Patent expired - the patent expired because it came to the end of the 20th year and the protection period for this patent is over.

• Patent lapsed - the patent has lapsed due to one or more conditions not being fulfilled, like annual fees not paid. The date of lapsing will be provided in these cases.

• Patent revoked - the patent has been validated, but at later stage has been revoked. The date of revocation will be provided in these cases

2

Application No.

Yes

The European application numbers are used, in the format "EP10152236" (without the ".X" at the end)

3

Publication No.

Yes

The Patent number as granted by EPO, in the format "EP2379653".

4

Proprietor

Yes

All proprietors are listed, as per the status quo at the moment of the query. The transfer of rights result in changing the proprietors and only the new ones are returned by the WEB service.

5

Invalidation date

Yes

Invalidation date is provided for patents that have been validated for Bulgaria, but at later stage stopped to be in force in Bulgaria for some reason. The invalidation dates are applicable for the following statuses only:

Patent revoked: the date when the patent has been revoked and stopped to be in force for Bulgaria.

Patent expired: the date when the validity period of the patent has expired.

Patent lapsed: the date when the patent lapsed due to annuities not paid in the due period.

6

Not in force since

No

It is assumed that this date is relevant only for the patents for which "Invalidation date" is relevant, and in those cases both dates are identical.

7

Renewal fees last  paid

Yes

 Date of last payment.

8

Register last updated

Yes

Corresponds to the last update date of the particular record. "Update" means any kind of data modification in the back-office system in the office.

9

SPC

No

SPC data is available and can be provided if and when it becomes a specific part of FRS, and the data format and rules are specified.