Pages 248-250

INTERNATIONAL TREATIES

Eurasian Patent Convention

Announcement on the starting date of operations under the Eurasian Patent Convention

1. The starting date of operations under the Eurasian Patent Convention1, done at Moscow on 9 September 1994, is 1 January 1996. As from that date, the Eurasian Patent Office receives Eurasian patent applications and Eurasian patents can be sought2 in international applications under the PCT.

Name of the Office:

Evraziiskoe patentnoe vedomstvo (EAPV)

Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO)

Location and mailing address:

M. Cherkassky per. 2/6, EAPV

Moscow, Centre, GSP, 103621

Russian Federation

Telephone: (70-95) 206 63 21

Facsimile: (70-95) 921 24 23

The President of the Eurasian Patent Office is Mr. Viktor I. Blinnikov.

2. By 31 December 1995, the following nine States (hereinafter referred to as "the contracting states") had deposited their instruments of accession to, or ratification of, the Eurasian Patent Convention with the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan3.

3. The Convention allows anyone--irrespective of nationality or domicile - to obtain a Eurasian patent for invention, having effect in all the contracting states, by filing a single application with, and making a single payment to, the Eurasian Patent Office in Moscow. The request part of an application for the grant of a Eurasian patent must be in Russian. Other parts of the Eurasian application may, at the time of the filing of the application, be in Russian or in any other language. For any parts that are not in Russian, a Russian translation must be furnished by the applicant within two months following the date of receipt, by the Eurasian Patent Office, of the Eurasian application. The Eurasian Patent Office accepts the filing of applications by facsimile, but the signed original must reach the Office within 14 days.

4. The procedure in the Eurasian Patent Office follows the usual rules: there is an examination as to form; this is followed by search, publication after the expiry of 18 months from the priority date, substantive examination (which is done on the request of the applicant; such a request must be made before the expiry of six months from the date of publication of the search report), and grant or refusal of grant of a Eurasian patent.

5. If the grant of a Eurasian patent is refused, the applicant may transform his Eurasian application into national applications having the filing date and the priority date, if any, of the Eurasian application, in those contracting states in which he wishes to obtain a national patent under the national procedure.

6. The granted Eurasian patent is not a bundle of national patents but has, in the contracting states, a unitary legal effect governed by the Convention and the Patent Regulations adopted by the Administrative Council.

7. Any dispute concerning the validity in a given contracting state, or an infringement in a given contracting state, of a Eurasian patent will be decided by the national courts or other competent authorities of that State on the basis of the Convention and the Patent Regulations. Such a decision has legal effect only in the territory of that contracting state.

8. In the case of a dispute, any national court or other competent authority of a contracting state in which Russian is not a State language may require that the plaintiff furnish to it a translation of the Eurasian patent in the State language.

9. There is no requirement and no possibility to designate contracting states in the Eurasian patent application. The Eurasian patent has effect on the territory of all contracting states from the date of its publication by the Eurasian Patent Office. However, at the time when the annual maintenance fees are due and are paid, the owner of the patent must designate by name those contracting states in which he wishes the effect of the patent to continue. Designations must be addressed to the Eurasian Patent Office, and the maintenance fees must be paid at the same time. A separate fee is payable in respect of each designated contracting state.

10. Any person who has the right to be a representative before the national patent office of a contracting state and who is registered with the Eurasian Patent Office as a patent agent may act as representative before the Eurasian Patent Office. Where the applicant does not have his residence or principal place of business in the territory of a contracting state, he is required to be represented by such a registered patent agent.

11. The fee to be paid at the filing of a Eurasian application (so-called "unitary procedural fee") is USD 800, plus USD 50 for each claim in excess of ten, if any. This fee also covers search and publication. This fee is reduced by 25% when the application, filed via the PCT, enters the regional phase before the Eurasian Patent Office and is accompanied by an international (PCT) search report. A further amount of USD 800 is payable when examination is requested. Finally, USD 500 are payable when the Eurasian patent is granted.

12. The list of registered patent agents, the schedule of fees and printed application (and other) forms are available from the Eurasian Patent Office.