Patent

Under Czech law

Patents are governed by Act No. 527/1990 Sb. and granted by the Industrial Property Office. The conditions are worldwide novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability (§ 3); any public disclosure before filing — a conference talk, an e-shop listing, a pitch deck without an NDA — destroys novelty. Protection lasts 20 years from filing (§ 21) against annual maintenance fees, and the application is published after 18 months. Czech law also offers the utility model (užitný vzor, Act No. 478/1992 Sb.): a faster, cheaper, registration-only right lasting up to 10 years, popular for incremental technical solutions.

Czech filings can anchor international routes — the European patent (EPO) and the PCT system — within the 12-month priority year.

A practical example

An engineering firm develops a clever valve assembly and demonstrates it at a trade fair in March. In June it asks about patenting: too late for anything valid in most of the world — its own exhibition is prior art. The next product goes the other way: file first (often a utility model plus a patent application), exhibit after, and use the priority year to decide which countries justify the cost.

When you need a lawyer

Or rather a patent attorney (patentový zástupce), often working with a lawyer: drafting claims is a specialised craft, and the difference between a broad claim and a worthless one is invisible to the inventor. Lawyers lead on licensing, employee-invention compensation (§ 9–§ 10), and infringement litigation.