Patent registration in Iran. Iran also called Persia, and officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is the easternmost country in the Middle East, and in Western Asia. Iran’s economy is a mixture of central planning, state ownership of oil and other large enterprises, village agriculture, and small-scale private trading and service venture. Furthermore, Iran is ranked as an upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank. 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 Iran.
Patent in Iran
According to the IP Law of Iran, this country has regulations regarding patents, designs, and trademarks. There are no utility models available. The legal authority for registering industrial property rights in Iran is the Intellectual Property Center (IPC).
Necessary documents for patent registration in Iran
The necessary documents for patent registration in Iran 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);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The above documents must be submitted in Persian (Farsi).
To claim priority, the applicant must file the patent application within 12 months from the earliest claimed priority, as stipulated in the Paris Convention.
The procedure of patent registration in Iran
To obtain a patent in Iran, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the Intellectual Property Center (IPC).
The patent application will undergo a formality examination to check if it complies with the regulations of the patent law and it is patentable.
After the formality examination, the substantive examination automatically starts without the need of the request from the applicant, provided that the fees for these examinations have been paid in full.
The competent searching authorities (selected from certain institutions, e.g. universities) conduct the substantive examination on behalf of the patent office. After the substantive examination, a final decision on patentability will be issued by the patent office.
If the innovation is eligible for a grant, the grant decision will be issued and the patent will be published. Patent applications are not published in Iran and therefore, the applicant won’t be able to update the status of pending applications.
Validity period and maintenance fee
Once granted, a patent in Iran will be protected for a maximum period of 20 years from the filing date, provided that the patentee pays the maintenance fee in full.
It should be noted that the 20 years term was introduced by the Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks Registration Act of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2008).
Under previous legislation, the patentee could choose between a term of 5, 10, 15, or 20 years from the filing date.
Registering through the PCT
Iran became a member of the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) on 4 October 2013. Accordingly, any international application filed on or after 4 October 2013 automatically includes the designation of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
You can see a list of Iran IP firms here.