EAPC Patenting Rules

The member states of the EAPO include the CIS states - Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and a number of other countries. This means that they recognize the validity of a patent issued through the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO), without additional confirmation through national services. Let's highlight the general rules of patenting, regulated by the EAPO:

• rights may be assigned to all common objects of industrial property - industrial designs, inventions, utility models;
• the right holder may be an individual or an enterprise, including any territorial and national affiliation;
• the registration procedure is carried out on the basis of an application, which may be filed through the patent office of any member country of the EAPO;
• applications and all documents shall be made in Russian language, which is an official language of the Eurasian Patent Office.

The requirements to the application form comply with all international standards. For instance, the application for invention and utility model shall include the application, claims and description, abstract. For industrial designs, instead of claims, a set of images disclosing the solution of the appearance of the product is submitted.

Even before filing the application, it is advisable to conduct a preliminary patent search. It involves examining the information in national and international registers in order to eliminate any overlap with similar subject matter which has already been protected. You can carry out the preliminary search yourself, but the best option is to contact a patent office. Our specialists will help you quickly obtain an objective and reliable report on the uniqueness and novelty of your design, and, if necessary, make appropriate changes to the application.

Eurasian patent protection

The term of a Eurasian patent depends on the type of industrial property object. For example, the protection regime for an invention will be valid for 20 years without the possibility of extension. A utility model patent is valid for 10 years, and it is also impossible to extend it. For industrial designs, the Eurasian patent is issued for 5 years, but it can be extended through the EAPO until the limit of protection (25 years) expires.

Means of protection of exclusive rights can be realized in the territory of all 8 member states of the EAPO. The following remedies can be applied to infringers:

• make a written demand to prohibit the illegal use of alien technology, or to eliminate the threat of such an infringement, to compensate losses or to pay remuneration;
• seek judicial protection - you can recover damages or punitive compensation, premature termination of the license agreement with payment of sanctions, to achieve the seizure of counterfeit products and means of production;
• for the most significant violations, the guilty persons can be held administratively or criminally liable.

The EAPC member states coordinate their efforts to combat patent infringement on an ongoing basis, including through customs and law enforcement authorities.