Patent registration in Bangladesh. Bangladesh, officially the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic based on the Westminster system. This country maintains the third-largest military in South Asia after India and Pakistan and has been a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. A middle power in the Indo-Pacific, Bangladesh is an emerging economy ranked as the 33rd-largest in the world by nominal GDP, and the 29th-largest by PPP. Bangladesh is projected to be the 11th largest consumer market in the world by 2030. 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 Bangladesh.
Patent in Bangladesh
A patent in Bangladesh is a type of intellectual property that provides the owner or the inventor the legal right to exclude others from inventing, using, or selling the invention for a set amount of time.
The basic requirements to register a patent in Bangladesh
The basic requirements to register a patent in Bangladesh include the following conditions:
- The application for patent registration must contain an invention.
- The applicant must be in possession of that invention.
- The applicant must be the first inventor or the legal representative that has the right to file the application by providing the IP Office with evidence proving that the applicant does have the necessary rights.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Bangladesh
The necessary documents for patent registration in Bangladesh include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- Priority documents (if any);
- Other required documents.
Conditions for filing a patent registration application in Bangladesh
According to Section 3 of the Patent & Design Act, 1911, an application for a patent registration request in Bangladesh can be made by any citizen of Bangladesh or foreign national, by themselves or jointly.
The application made by the inventor shall consist of a declaration that the applicant owns the invention.
A patent application (Form-1) is required to be accompanied by either a provisional (Form- 3) or complete specification (Form- 3A).
The applicant needs to submit a complete specification if he/she has already made an application for a patent with a provisional specification within 9 months from the date of submission of the other forms.
A complete specification (Form- 3A) shall include the name of the inventor, its address, the title of the invention, an abstract or summary of the invention, a description of the invention, drawing, etc.
The procedure of patent registration in Bangladesh
To obtain a patent in Bangladesh, the applicant needs to file the patent application to the Department of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks (DPDT).
After receiving the application, the examiners in the DPDT will conduct a thorough examination to check if the application complies with the law and there are no formality errors.
If there are no issues found, the application will be published in the Gazette. After publication, the application will enter the opposition period that lasts 4 months in which any third parties may file for the opposition of the patent registration of the innovation.
If any opposition is raised, then the patent applicant will submit a written reply within the stipulated time. The cost will depend on legal steps.
If there is no opposition, the Registrar will issue Letters Patent (LP). Furthermore, if the patentee desires a patent to be sealed, he or she shall file Form 8 with the prescribed fee in accordance with the patent rules within 24 months or 28 months (as the case may be) from the date of filing.
You can find a list of Bangladesh IP firms here.