Patent registration in Laos. Laos, officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, is a socialist state and the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. The Lao economy depends on investment and trade with its neighbors, Thailand, Vietnam, and, especially in the north, China. Laos is rich in mineral resources and imports petroleum and gas. Metallurgy is an important industry, and the government hopes to attract foreign investment to develop the substantial deposits of coal, gold, bauxite, tin, copper, and other valuable metals. The mining industry of Laos has received prominent attention with foreign direct investments. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to Laos is to learn the procedure of patent registration in Laos.
Documents required for patent registration in Laos
- Name, full address, and nationality of the Applicant and Inventor;
- Invention description (English or Lao).
- Notarized copy of priority document (if any);
- Patent assignment contract (notarized) if the applicant is not the author;
- A copy of the search report/notice of the respective patent examination results in other countries (if any).
Note: If the applicant does not submit a search report with the application, the Lao Patent Office will coordinate with any foreign patent office or equivalent international search agency to conduct the search and pay the fee. The fees incurred will be borne by the applicant.
The procedure for patent registration in Laos
For inventions, the examination process takes about 50 months from the date of application to the date of grant of the patent. The Lao Patent Office will rely on the examination results of this application by foreign patent offices to grant a patent or not.
The patent applicant must provide the Lao Patent Office with the following documents:
- A copy confirming the results of a search or test conducted with the foreign application for the same solution; or
- A copy of a patent issued based on a foreign application for the same solution; or
- A copy of the final decision of a court or equivalent institution refusing to grant a patent for the same solution which has been filed in another country.
For small inventions, the time from applying for granting a patent is about 12 months.
The validity period of the patent registration in Laos
For inventions, the validity period is 20 years, provided that the patent owner has paid an annual maintenance fee.
For small inventions, the validity period is 07 years, provided that the patent owner has paid the validity maintenance fee. Fees can be paid late but not more than 6 months.
Important notes when conducting patent registration in Laos
Important notes when conducting patent registration in Laos include:
If the application does not have a Search Results Report, the applicant will have to pay a search fee to the Lao Registrar so that the application examination agency can directly work with a foreign patent office or a relevant international organization.
The maximum time limit for late submission of paper documents is 90 days from the date of application.
The required description and claims must be translated into Lao.
The time limit for applying for the priority right under the Paris Convention is 12 months from the date of first filing.
The time from applying for granting a license is 50 months for inventions or 36 months for utility solutions.
You can see a list of Laos IP firms here.