Hungarian Intellectual Property Office

How to search designs documents?

Supported search

Search of design documents is an activity that requires special knowledge and experience, therefore it is recommended to visit the customer service of the Hungarian Patent Office personally where research can be conducted based on electronic and traditional data carriers with the help and guidance of our specialists.

Individual search

On the Internet numerous design databases are available, which usually accelerate orientation. Beyond use of key words, the Locarno Classification is the fundamental tool of searching design documents by subjects. If the search does not call forth relevant documents in the databases, it does not mean necessarily that such documents do not exist.

Search of design documents valid in Hungary

• PIPACS - Hungarian industrial property database is the basic tool of search of design documents valid in Hungary, and applications being in process.

Important warning:
The Hungarian Patent Office will neither assume any legal responsibility for mistakes which may occur in the database in spite of a careful control, nor for the legal consequences of using the data. In cases involving legal consequences it is advisable to check the data in the public record-keeping maintained at the Hungarian Patent Office

Search of foreign design documents

• Hague Express - The Hague Express Database includes bibliographical data and, as far as international deposits governed exclusively or partly by the 1960 Act of the Hague Agreement are concerned, reproductions of designs relating to international deposits that have been recorded in the International Register and published in the International Designs Bulletin as of issue No. 1/1999. The data presented on Hague Express are in accordance with the situation of the International Register of Designs taking into account the most recent issue of the International Designs Bulletin.

• Community Design Bulletin - The Community Designs Bulletin may be searched either by entering text in the Bulletin Quick Search field, or using the Web Site Search facility, theme "Community Designs Bulletin".

• USPTO Patent Full-Text and Full-Page Image Databases - It enables users to search about 460 000 documents of design patens.

• Further foreign patent databases are available on the Internet.

When using the databases, it is indispensable to watch out for its data content and the applicable search techniques.