Eurasian Patent Organization to Introduce Eurasian Design Patents

Mayya Pak

On September 9, 2019, the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO) member states adopted the Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs to the Eurasian Patent Convention, introducing the Eurasian system of protection for industrial design patents, along with the already existing regional protection for inventions.

There are eight EAPO member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The Eurasian Patent Convention is the treaty that instituted Eurasian patents for inventions and the EAPO in 1995.

According to the Protocol, Eurasian design patent applications will be filed with the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) either directly or through the national patent office of an EAPO member state. All applicants will follow uniform examination requirements, use only the official language of the EAPO – Russian, and pay a uniform procedural fee. Once granted, Eurasian design patents will be valid for five years counting from the application filing date, and will be renewable for additional five-year periods up to four more times, so that the maximum term of protection does not exceed 25 years from the application filing date.

So far, the EAPO member states that have signed the Protocol are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, while the delegations of the remaining three members – Belarus, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan – have announced the implementation of domestic procedures necessary for their participation in the Protocol.

The Protocol will enter into force for the first three states that have ratified or acceded to it three months after the last state deposits its instrument of ratification. In all other member states, the Protocol will enter into force three months after the state’s accession or deposit of its instrument of ratification.