Updated last 26.03.2021
The complete patent issuance procedure in Bulgaria is regulated by the Patents and Utility Models Registration Act and the Ordinance on the Preparation, Submission and Expert Analysis of Patent Applications. The main steps, to be undertaken for the issuance of a patent in Bulgaria are, as follows:
 | Preparation of the necessary documents |
In order to obtain a patent you must prepare a patent application for the respective invention, and submit it to the Patent Office.
| Important to know | |
 | Each applicant, having a permanent address or head office in the Republic of Bulgaria or another member – state of the European Union, in a country, member of the Agreement on the European Economic area or the Swiss Confederation, can submit a patent application to the Patent Office personally, through an attorney-at-law or through a local industrial property agent. A candidate, who does not have a permanent address or registered office in the Republic of Bulgaria, must submit a patent application to the Patent Office, acting through an attorney-at-law or a local industrial property agent. A list of the industrial property agents can be found here. When the applicants are several and one of them is a Bulgarian natural person or legal entity, the authorization of a representative is not mandatory. In such case a mailing address in the Republic of Bulgaria should be mandatory provided. |
The application should be in regard to only one invention or to a group of inventions, which are thus connected that they constitute one single inventive conception. When the application concerns a group of inventions, the requirement for unity is met, if technical connection among these inventions exists, regarding one or more of the equal or similar specific technical characteristics.
The application must contain the following documents:
- A patent application with the name of the invention, for which the patent is requested, as well as the identification details of the candidate in Bulgarian – a template of the application can be found here.
- A description of the invention, disclosing at least its nature (in three copies);
- A declaration of the actual inventors, if the candidate is different from the inventor;
- A declaration of licensing readiness, upon submission a patent application, if the candidate is ready to provide licenses;
| Important to know | |
| When the application is submitted with a declaration of licensing readiness, the candidate receives 50% discount on the fees. |
- A power of attorney for the industrial property agent, when the application is submitted through an attorney-at-lw or an industrial property agent;
- A declaration for a budget-supported organization, if the candidate is such an organization;
- One or more claims (in three copies) – the patent claim defines the object, for which protection is requested. It must be clearly and precisely formulated in a single sentence and correspond to the description of the invention;
- Drawings, if necessary to clarify the invention (in three copies);
- Summary (in three copies, up to 150 words) – containing the name of the invention, exposition, disclosing the technical sphere and the nature of the invention – what technical problem it solves, in what manner and what is the specific application of the invention;
- A declaration and priority certificate, when priority is claimed;
- Paid fee for application;
- Paid fee for the verification of the formal requirements;
- Paid fee for preliminary expert analysis and admissibility;
- Paid fee for claims and for claimed priorities;
- A declaration for a micro- and small enterprise pursuant to the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Act, when the candidate is such an enterprise (here you can find a template of the declaration and guidelines on its completion;
| Important to know | |
| If you are a SME and apply for a patent, you can use 50% discount on some of the fees. |
| Fee | More information on the fees for the issuance of a patent can be found here. |
| Important to know | |
| The application documents are filed in Bulgarian. If you file the description, claims, drawings and summary in another language, the filing date is reserved, subject to the submission of Bulgarian versions of these documents within three months. This period cannot be extended. All documents, necessary for filing a patent application for an invention can be found here. Detailed information on the manner of preparation of the necessary documents for the patent application is published in the Ordinance on the Preparation, Submission and Expert Analysis of Patent Applications. On website of the Patent Office you can find the document Guidelines on the filling-in of applications for the issuance of patents and for the preparation of the invention description. |
 | Filing the application |
The application is submitted directly in the Patent Office at specifically designated registration counter, through a licensed postal operator, through communication device, transmitting faxes, electronically at the Patent Office contact e-mail and through the Patent Office electronic administrative services portal.
| Important to know | |
| When the application is submitted electronically, the scanned images of the required documents are attached. When the application is submitted through the e-mail or through communication device, transmitting faxes or electronic copies, the original of the application should be submitted to the Patent Office within one month. In such case the date of the receipt of the email is considered the application date. For submission through the Patent Office electronic administrative services portal the application should be signed with qualified electronic signature. For more information about submitting the application using the E-Services Portal of the Bulgarian Patent Office please look here. |
If the application meets the minimum requirements for establishing the submission date, i.e. the application is accompanied by the identification details of the candidate and a description, disclosing at least the nature of the invention, you will received in writing a candidate number and the established submission date. If any of the envisaged premises is absent, the applicant is sent a notification that the application is considered not submitted. When the application is submitted via fax or electronically and it meets the date requirements, and the original is received in the Patent Office after the expiration of the one month term, the date of the receipt of the original documents in the office shall be considered the date of the receipt.
 | Verification for classified information |
One month after the filing of the application, when the applicant has a permanent address or a registered seat in Bulgaria, a verification of the application for the presence of classified information shall be performed. This is information, which is state or official secret. If such information is discovered, the application will be sent to the competent authorities, which, within 3 months determine its level of classification.
 | Verification of the formal requirements |
In a one month’s as of the verification for the presence of classified information the application will be checked for compliance with all the requirements, listed in Step 1. If inaccuracies are found in the documents or the application fees have not been paid, the Patent Office will provide a three-month period for the elimination of any defects.
| Important to know | |
| The correspondence in relation to the procedures before the Patent Office is done at address in the Republic of Bulgaria, at the e-mail or through the Patent Office electronic services portal, if possible. In case of a change of the indicated address the party under the procedure shall notify the Patent Office for the occurrence of the change within 7 days. |
When a priority is claimed, upon the expiration of three months after the filing date of the application (term for proving the claim for priority and for payment of the respective state fee), a verification of the fulfilment of the application priority requirements shall be performed. If any discrepancies are established, the candidate will have at his disposal 1 month to eliminate them, as otherwise the priority request will not be satisfied.
 | Ranking, based on the international patent classification |
The international patent classification enables inventors and the authorities, providing industrial property protection to monitor the development of the state of the art and check, if a specific invention meets the “novelty“ criteria with view of the existing inventions. The classification divides technologies in eight sections and approximately 70,000 divisions. Тhe information is available in English and French, but there are publications, accessible in other languages as well.
| Important to know | |
| Even before you decide whether or not to patent, you may check, through the international patent classification, and see to what extent your invention is patentable, considering the already existing inventions in the same application area. |
 | Investigation of the nature of the invention |
Within three months after the verification of the formal requirements the conformity of the claims with the description of the invention will be checked. An evaluation is made of whether or not the invention is clear enough and completely disclosed, so that it solves the respective problem and a specialist in the respective area is able to implement it. If discrepancies are found, the candidate will have 3 months to eliminate them. The summary will be checked, as well as whether or not the application contains inadmissible expressions (art. 14 of the Ordinance on the preparation, filing and expert analysis of patent applications).
 | Unity inspection |
Within the term for verification of the invention’s essence a verification of the unity of the application is also performed. When filing the patent application, the rule for unity of the invention must be met – whether or not the application only refers to a single invention or a group of inventions, which are related and constitute a single common inventor’s concept. When the application refers to a group of inventions, between which there is a technical connection (one or more identical technical characteristics), the unity requirement is considered to be met. If it is determined that the requirement for unity of the invention is not met, the candidate is notified of the claims, violating the unity and is invited to separate the application (in a 3 months’term) and submit a re-worked description of the invention in compliance with the claims, which are in unity. If in this term the applicant files independent applications for the separate parts, the filing date, or the priority date respectively, as appropriate, of the initially filed application shall be considered the filing date, or the priority date respectively. If the applicant fails to reply within this term, objects with no grounds or fails to remedy the deficiencies, decision for termination of the proceedings is taken.
 | Verification of the admissibility of the legal protection |
This verification confirms that the patent application is related to the invention and that the invention is not excluded from patentability. More information on the patentability of the inventions can be found here.
 | Clarification of the priority |
For the purposes of the clarification of the priority it is checked whether or not the application was submitted within 12 months after the filing date of the earliest application, based on which priority is claimed and whether no earlier applications (e.g., for European or international patent) have obtained priority.
 | Publication of the application |
The patent application is published in the Official Bulletin of the Patent Office for the application, for which the fee for research and experts’ opinion is paid, as well as fee for publishing the application, within the legally set term, after the expiration of the 18th month from the filing date, respectively from the priority of the initially filed application, as appropriate. At the applicant’s request, accompanied by a document for a fee paid, the publication of the application may be done prior to the expiration of this term. Simultaneously with the publication for the application the Patent Office provides access to the description, claims and drawings, attached thereto through entry in the National Patent Register.
| Important to know | |
| For the same invention, for which a patent application has been filed, the candidate may also submit a request for utility model registration, referring to the filing date and the claimed priority of the patent application, unless it it is not a case of biotechnological inventions, methods, chemical compounds and their use or inventions, the commercial use of which would disrupt public order and morality. This right could be exercised until the expiration of two months from the date of the receipt of the decision on the patent application. |
 | Third-party objections |
After the publication in Patent Office’s Official Gazette, the description, claims and drawings of the invention become publicly available. Within 3 months after the publication, third parties may submit their written substantiated objections to the patentability of the invention.
 | Investigation and expert analysis for the presence of a novelty, inventive step and industrial application |
The Patent Office checks whether or not there is a similar invention on a global scale, which has been published, disclosed or in use before the application submission date and consequently is part of the state of the art. An investigation report is issued, along with the respective statement on the patentability of the invention.
The report, the application and the written objections by any third person (if any) are sent to the applicant not later than 6 months from the expiration of the term for objections by third persons, except in the cases in which during the research a conflict application is found, when the report and the opinion are sent after the publication thereof. Within 3 months of receiving such documents the candidate may change his application and comment on the statement and objections.
Detailed information on the methods of conducting the investigation and expert analysis, may be found in Chapter 4 “Investigation and expert analysis of patent applications“ of the Ordinance on the preparation, filing and expert analysis of patent applications.
If as a result of the research and the experts’ opinion it is established that the invention is not patentable and the applicant fails to reply within the term set, fails to remedy the deficiencies or objects with no grounds, a decision is taken for refusing the issuance of a patent.
If it is established that the applied-for invention is patentable, but the description and/or patent claims do not meet the legal requirements, the expert invites the applicant to remedy them within three months term. If in the thus granted term the applicant fails to make the required corrections, fails to reply or objects groundlessly, the expert takes a decision for termination of the proceedings on the application.
If after the experts’ opinion’s completion and correspondence with the applicant it is established that the invention is patentable and all the legal requirements are met, written notification for payment of the annual fees and the fees for patent’s issuance and publication is sent. The fees are payable within three months from the receipt of the notification, and if the applicant fails to pay within this term, the fees could be paid additionally within one month in double amount.
Decision for patent’s issuance is taken when the respective annual fees and the fees for patent issuance and publication are paid. If the fees are not paid, the application is considered withdrawn.
| Fee | Any and all payable and due fees during the different stages of a patent’s issuance are available here. |
 | Issuing a patent |
If, after the investigation, expert analysis and communications with the candidate, it is established that the invention is patentable, the Patent Office issues a Decision for patent issuance. The issuance of a patent is published in the Patent Office Official Bulletin. Within one month from the publication a patent is issued and the description, claims and drawings thereto are published.