Eurasian Industrial Design Patent

A number of EAPO member states adopted the Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs to the Eurasian Patent Convention at a Diplomatic Conference held on September 9, 2019 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. It is planned that the rest of the member states will sign the Protocol within several months.

According to the Protocol, right holders will be able to obtain legal protection for their industrial designs in all member states by receiving a single Eurasian patent. The Protocol contains basic concepts of industrial design protection. Comprehensive guidelines will be further detailed in the Eurasian Patent Regulation and other regulatory acts.

The Protocol enters into force within 3 months of its ratification by a third member state. After that, the EAPO will be able to start actual work with industrial designs. According to preliminary estimates, this should happen in the year 2020.

Adoption of this new intellectual property right marks an important step in the development of the Eurasian Patent System, which has been focused so far on a sole IP right – invention patents.

The Diplomatic Conference was held on the day of the Eurasian Patent Organization’s 25th Anniversary. 25 years ago, on September 9, 1994, The Eurasian Patent Convention was signed and the Eurasian Patent System was founded. At present, the Eurasian patent System provides patent protection to inventions in eight member states, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

Sojuzpatent is proud to have been one of the two sponsors of the event.