On 1 January 2024 amendments to the Patent Regulations to the Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC) came into force, affecting various aspects related to the implementation of administrative procedures aimed at obtaining a Eurasian patent for invention and industrial design.
In particular, the following provisions of the Patent Regulations have been amended:
- Period for filing opposition against Eurasian patents for invention and industrial design under the administrative cancellation has been increased from 9 months to 3 years
In this case, the three-year period for filing opposition starts to run from the date of publication of information on the grant of a Eurasian patent.
- Time limit for submission of claims has been established
Now, if the claims are missing from the application materials, the applicant may submit such claims within 2 months from the date of receipt by the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) of the Eurasian application.
If the said time limit is missed, the Eurasian application shall be deemed withdrawn. However, the applicant is entitled to request for the procedure for continuation of the proceedings provided for in Rule 37(3) of the Patent Regulations. This procedure is now also available for divisional applications.
- The examination procedure of Eurasian industrial design applications has been clarified
At the stage of substantive examination of an industrial design, the EAPO will verify the claimed industrial design on the novelty criterion within the limits of publicly available information at the EAPO disposal and (or) information obtained by the EAPO in the course of other examinations provided for by the Patent Regulations in the course of substantive examination of a Eurasian application.
The EAPO will also check whether each industrial design claimed in a Eurasian application does not relate to the solutions referred to in subparagraphs e), f) and g) of Rule 78(6) of the Patent Regulations.
- Mediation procedure for the settlement of disputes has been introduced
Thus, in cases of identity or confusing similarity of an industrial design with trademarks with earlier priority, the disputing parties will be able to apply for mediation.
The updated versions of Part I “Inventions” and Part II “Industrial Designs” of the Patent Regulations are available on the EAPO official website.