Patent registration in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is a country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. As a result of implementing a record number of reforms mainly involving institutional changes among the 10 top improvers, Azerbaijan has become a favorable destination for conducting business. With the new policies, the time and cost to get a construction permit are reduced significantly here. Furthermore, the process of connecting the electricity grid rationalized, as well as getting credit is becoming more simplified. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in Azerbaijan.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Azerbaijan
The necessary documents for patent registration in Azerbaijan include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, and citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention (even if it complies with formal requirements only).
- A filing number and date of a priority application or a PCT application;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The official language of an Azerbaijan patent application is Azerbaijani. Accordingly, although the applicant may file any other documents in different languages, he/she must also provide the IP Office of Azerbaijan with the necessary translation of those documents to Azerbaijani within 2 months from the filing date.
The procedure of patent registration in Azerbaijan
To obtain a patent in Azerbaijan, the applicant needs to carefully prepare their patent application and file it to the IP Office of Azerbaijan.
After receiving the patent application, the examiners at the IP Office will conduct a thorough formal examination to check if the application complies with the regulations of the law.
If there are no errors found, the decision to publish the application will be issued.
When the application is published publicly after the applicant pays the required fees, it enters a 6 months opposition period in which any third parties may file for the opposition of the patent registration of that invention.
Within 18 months from the filing date, although not mandatory, the applicant may request a substantive examination on the application. As this is not mandatory, the applicant doesn’t need to do it provided that he/she acknowledges the risk of not having a substantive examination.
If a substantive examination is requested and if the results of the examination are favorable, the decision to grant a patent is issued.
When the applicant has paid in full the publication fees and the first post-grant annuities, the patent will be issued.
The procedure for patent registration in Azerbaijan
The entire process from first filing to the granting of a patent in Azerbaijan takes from 2 to 3 years, provided that there are no problems occurred.
Besides traditional national filing, the applicant may also seek to have patent protection in Azerbaijan through a Eurasian patent.
The validity term of a patent in Azerbaijan is 20 years from the filing date. For pharmaceutical patents and patents for agrochemicals, it is possible to apply for an extension of the 20 years term for an additional 5 years period. In case a patent is extended the Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) will be issued.
In Azerbaijan, the novelty grace period is 12 months from disclosure of the information on the invention before filing an application, meaning that if the invention is disclosed to the public within 12 months before filing the application, the application will still be considered valid.
The term for filing a patent application in Azerbaijan claiming priority is 12 months from the priority date. The term can be extended for 2 months provided that there are reasons beyond their control that affects the claiming of priority rights.
You can find a list of Azerbaijan IP firms here.