EAPO Announces Launch Date of Eurasian Industrial Design

The Eurasian Patent Office announced that they will accept Eurasian design patent applications starting June 1, 2021.

The Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs to the Eurasian Patent Convention (the Protocol) was signed on September 9, 2019, in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. According to the protocol, rights holders will be able to obtain legal protection for their industrial designs in all member states by receiving a single Eurasian patent.

A Eurasian design patent will have a legal effect within a member state’s territory if the corresponding Eurasian design application has been filed after the entry of the protocol into force with respect to that state.

As of today, the protocol has taken effect in five out of eight member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Therefore, patents granted based on first applications filed starting June 1, 2021, will be valid in these countries.

In the development of the provisions of the protocol, the EAPO approved the official fees for industrial designs and adopted Part II of the Patent Regulations, which contain provisions pertaining to the processing of Eurasian design applications.