Patent registration in Georgia

Strategically located on the border between Europe and Asia, Georgia is, nevertheless, not a member of the regional patent treaties (the European Patent Convention and the Eurasian Patent Convention); accordingly, the only way to obtain patent protection is to file an application directly with the Georgian PTO – the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia (Sakpatenti).

At the same time, Georgia participates in major worldwide IP conventions/agreements (such as the 1883 Paris Convention and the Patent Cooperation Treaty – PCT). Therefore, an applicant has the possibility to claim priority from an earlier foreign patent application (the Paris route) or enter the PCT national phase. Patent filing limitations and requirements in Georgia are consistent with generally accepted international practices.

Prosecution is conducted in the Georgian language only.

GEORGIAN INVENTION PATENT

Georgian patent examination consists of formal (2 months from the filing date) and substantive examinations (to be requested within 2 months after the completion of the formal examination). Prosecution of a Georgian patent application takes on average 1.5 - 3 years, depending on the volume of the application materials and the complexity of examination.

The Georgian patent term is 20 years; it can be extended by an additional 5 years for Georgian pharmaceutical inventions.

GE patent costs depend on the volume of the patent application, including the number of independent claims. Please provide us with the application particulars so we can calculate the filing costs.

Deadlines for filing a patent application in Georgia are:

• 12 months for claiming conventional priority (the term may be restored within two months if missed unintentionally); and
• 31 months for a PCT entry into the Georgian national stage(may be restored within two months under “due care” and “unintentional delay” criteria upon payment of a prescribed fee).

Exception to lack of novelty (novelty grace period) in Georgia is 12 months from the first disclosure done before the filing (priority) date 1) by the inventor or his legal successor; 2) to a third party confidentially; 3) by an act of bad faith against the inventor or his legal successor.

Georgian non-resident applicants must be represented by local agents who are registered Georgian patent attorneys. Powers of attorney must be provided in original within 2 months after the patent application has been filed with Sakpatenti.

Patent filing requirements in Georgia:

• Filing Request with applicant’s (applicants’) and inventor’s (inventors’) name(s)/title(s) and address(es);
• the specification, claims, abstract, and figures (if any) in any language;
• originally executed PoA for Georgian non-resident applicants (to be filed within 2 months of submitting the application materials to the GE PTO); no legalization is required;
• assignment from the inventor to the applicant (to be filed within 2 months of submitting the application materials to the GE PTO);
• translation of the application materials into the Georgian language (to be filed within 2 months of submitting the application materials to the GE PTO);
• if a priority is claimed, a certified copy of the priority document (to be submitted later, within 16 months of the priority date).

A GEORGIAN UTILITY MODEL PATENT relates to the same subject matter as an invention patent, i.e. a product, a process, or a new use thereof. The main difference is that a Georgian utility model should only have one independent claim. Only local novelty is checked during the substantive examination, which is carried out within a month of the completion of the formal examination. On average, obtaining a utility model patent may take one year.

A utility model patent (instead of an invention patent) can be requested by the applicant when entering the PCT national stage.

Sojuzpatent will help you to file your patent applications with the Georgian Patent Office in any technical field with assistance of reliable local agents and will help you professionally through each step of the examination and granting. Our attorneys will take on all the substantive issues in every field of art, our state-of-the-art docketing system will help to keep track of the due dates, and our trusted agents will ensure that all the formalities within the Patent Office are fulfilled. We also provide after-grant guidance on annuities, licenses, assignments, recordation of changes, legal enforcement, litigation, negotiations, mediation, and dispute resolution.

Featured specialist

Dr. Tamara S. Fomicheva

Deputy Managing Partner
Head of Patent Department

Get expert advice+7 (495) 221-8880

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