Priority
On the date of proper filing of your trademark, you obtain the right of priority, which makes it easier to enforce your trademark against confusingly similar trademarks that are filed later.
If you have already filed the identical trademark for the same goods and services (or a part thereof) abroad (e.g., as a European Union trademark) and this application was filed no more than six months prior to the application in Austria, the filing date of this initial application (priority) can be adopted for the application in Austria (or the corresponding part of the list of goods and services). The Austrian application is thus treated legally as if it had been filed on the same day as the application abroad.
The transfer of the priority of the first application into the national procedure must be requested (priority claim). When making this request, the date of the first application and the country in which the application was filed (for a European Union trademark, “EUTM”) must be specified (priority declaration). The file number of this application must also be provided.
The priority date of an Austrian trademark application may be claimed within the priority period of six months from the filing date when filing the same trademark for the same goods and services (or a part thereof) in another country.
The priority document confirms the filing date of your trademark application, contains the original application documents, and can be used, among other things, for submission to other patent offices.
An extract from the trademark register also proves ownership, shows the filing details, and indicates the current legal status of your intellectual property right.
A priority document costs €111.
You can obtain a certified extract from the register for €34.
A duplicate of certified extract regarding a trademark is free of charge.
If you need priority documents, official confirmations, legal confirmations, official transcripts, or certifications, please contact:
Phone +43 1 534 24 - 76 or prioritaeten[at]patentamt.at
You can download uncertified extracts from the trademark register in the register database see.ip.
For certified register extracts, please contact:
Phone +43 1 534 24 or info[at]patentamt.at
We also provide the priority document electronically (via the dual delivery system or email) as a PDF document with an official digital signature – thereby granting it the evidentiary value of a public document in accordance with the Austrian eGovernment Act.
You can verify the date and the signatory (the Austrian Patent Office) from the signature block.
The signature block is also visible on any printouts of an officially signed electronic document, and the printout has the same evidentiary value as the electronic document itself.
WIPO Digital Access Service (DAS)
The Austrian Patent Office participates in the Digital Access Service (DAS) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Advantage: You do not have to handle the forwarding of priority documents yourself.
To make use of DAS, you need to apply for a priority document from the Austrian Patent Office and indicate that you wish to use DAS. You will then receive a code from WIPO via e-mail. Share this code with the patent offices where you wish to claim priority for your subsequent application abroad. The participating patent offices will then download the priority certificates themselves – provided that the respective patent office also participates in the DAS system.
You can find the participating patent offices here.
Further information can be found here.