Iran Patent Registration in a nutshell

Patent can be registered in Iran through an electronic application to the Iranian Intellectual Property Center of State Organization for Registration of Deeds and Properties. Iran regulations regarding this issue include Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks Registration Act (2008) and the Executive Regulation of Patent, Industrial Designs and Trademarks Registration Law (2009).

According to article 5 of the above mentioned Act, also Iran – as many other jurisdictions, such as Germany, Japan and EU – applies the First to File system.

Here below we are going to analyse the main steps of National Patent Registration: Application and Examination, Objection to Rejection, Inquiry and Registration or Rejection.

Application and Examination

The process of registration is mostly carried out electronically. The application is filed through the website of Iranian Intellectual Property Center.

The second step to register a Patent in Iran is the examination. Iranian regulations provide two types of examination regarding patent applications: Formal examination and Substantive examination.

After the classification made in accordance with the IPC (International Patent Classification), begins the formal examination of the application. At this stage, if the application information or appendices are incomplete, a notice of defects shall be issued by the Iranian registration authority and the applicant shall remove the defects and electronically submit all the correct information and appendices, within 30 days for the residents of Iran or 60 days for those residing overseas.

Once passed the formal examination, the registration authority has 6 months to verify that the application complies with the provisions of the abovementioned Executive Regulation. In the case that the patentability of the application is uncertain, a notice of conditional rejection shall be sent to the applicant, which shall submit the relevant reasons and documents in response to the patent rejection notice.

On the contrary, if the patentability of the application is certain, a research will be conducted in the database of the Intellectual Property Center to verify if there is a similar Patent. If so, a declaration regarding the existence of similar records shall be issued and the applicant shall prepare a report which explains the differences between the two records. If the research results show an identical previous registration, a rejection notice will be issued.

Objection to Rejection

At this stage, if the applicant has an objection, he can submit the motivations and evidences in support of the application, only after having payed the fees for Commission. This latter shall investigate on the matter and issue an official decision, which can be challenged within 60 days for the residents in Iran and 120 days for those residing overseas.

Inquiry

Following the examinations and the eventual objection process, it is possible for the registration authority to carry out an inquiry from specialized authorities to help provide a better substantive examination that lasts at most three months.

Afterwards, the applicant should submit the response of the inquiry through the website. In this case, the next steps might differ based on the negative or affirmative result of the inquiry.

Registration or Rejection

If the inquiry is affirmative the acceptance notice shall be issued, the application shall be registered and the registration fees shall be paid by the applicant within 30 days for the residents of Iran and 60 days for those residing overseas. After having paid the fees, the registration notice will be issued and published within 30 days after registration in the official gazette and, at last, the patent certificate can be issued.

In the case that the inquiry is negative, a warning notice shall be issued before the definitive rejection. The applicant can submit some supplementary documents in order to integrate the application; otherwise the rejection notice shall be issued.

The author of this post is Mohammad Rahmani.