An inventor can obtain a patent not only for the protection of intellectual rights in the Russian Federation. At the international level patenting is allowed under the PCT system or under the Eurasian Patent Convention. The procedure for establishing legal protection of an invention will allow to obtain a Eurasian patent, which will apply to the territory of 8 CIS countries participating in the convention.
The Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC) was adopted in 1995, and now there are 8 states, including Russia. The main purpose of this form of patent cooperation is as follows:
For the EAPC member states there are two options for filing an application: either through the Eurasian Patent Office, or through the national patent services. For example, for Russian inventors it is possible to file an application through the FIPS with the execution of documents in Russian.
A patent is issued after the invention and the information about the right holder have been registered in the registry. To do this, the following steps have to be taken:
It is also possible to obtain a Eurasian patent on an application originally filed under the PCT procedure. For this purpose the rules of transferring the international application to the regional stage of consideration are provided. The services of professional specialists - Eurasian patent attorneys can be used to represent interests at the stage of application filing and examination.
In the process of patenting it is necessary to confirm the uniqueness of the development, its industrial applicability, as well as the inventive step. These features comply with all international patenting rules. The term of the Eurasian patent will be 20 years from the date of registration of the application. This term may be extended for the member states of the convention, if their national laws provide such a procedure. For example, in Russia the extension of the legal protection of an invention beyond 20 years is not allowed.
During the period of validity of the patent, it must be kept in force - for this purpose, a fee is paid starting from the third year after registration. If the annual payments are not made on time, the patent can be revoked and the invention can be used by others without the further consent of the right holder.
After the registration of intellectual property under the Eurasian Patent Convention, the inventor acquires exclusive rights to the object. This allows:
In order for an alienation agreement or a license agreement to take effect, they must be registered on application from the parties to the transaction. Such registration also takes place through the Eurasian Patent Office, or through the FIPS.
The protection of exclusive rights with a Eurasian patent provides for standard options:
All of the above protection options can be used when an infringement is discovered in any country party to the Eurasian Patent Convention.