1) The convention is open to all states that are members of the United
Nations, the Paris Convention and the Patent Cooperation Treaty irrespective of
their geographical location. The initial signatories to the convention
comprise all of the successor states to the Soviet Union with the exceptions of
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Turkmenistan.
2) The Eurasian Patent Office will be established in Moscow and the official language will be Russian.
3) The definition of what is patentable is confined to a broad statement that patents shall be granted for any invention that is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable.
4) The term of a Eurasian patent is to be 20 years from the filing date of the application.
5) Provision is made for the grant of compulsory licenses in accordance with Paris Convention terms.
6) In principle it appears that a single Eurasian patent will be granted and it will not be necessary to effect "national completion" as is required by the European Patent Convention. Maintenance fees will be payable after the grant of the patent on the anniversary of the filing date. It appears that the magnitude of these fees is to be dependent upon the number of countries for which the patentee wishes to maintain protection and that by failure to pay fees for some countries one can thus reduce the geographical scope of the Eurasian patent after grant.
7) The Eurasian Patent Office will operate as a regional patent system under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
8) Eurasian patent applications are to be published 18 months from the filing date or, where priority is claimed, from the priority date. Searches will be carried out automatically after filing but substantive examination will only be carried out upon request and payment of the fee, such requests and fees being required within six months of the publication of the search report.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the new convention is the fact that it
leaves to regulations, which have not yet been promulgated, a number of issues
of substantive law including exactly how novelty is to be defined, whether any
publications (for example those which are an abuse of the applicant's rights or
publications by the inventor) are to be disregarded in considering novelty, the
definition of the exclusive right that is granted by the patent, the
interpretation of claims and provision of a prior user right for those who have
used the invention before the priority date of a patent covering it.2) The Eurasian Patent Office will be established in Moscow and the official language will be Russian.
3) The definition of what is patentable is confined to a broad statement that patents shall be granted for any invention that is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable.
4) The term of a Eurasian patent is to be 20 years from the filing date of the application.
5) Provision is made for the grant of compulsory licenses in accordance with Paris Convention terms.
6) In principle it appears that a single Eurasian patent will be granted and it will not be necessary to effect "national completion" as is required by the European Patent Convention. Maintenance fees will be payable after the grant of the patent on the anniversary of the filing date. It appears that the magnitude of these fees is to be dependent upon the number of countries for which the patentee wishes to maintain protection and that by failure to pay fees for some countries one can thus reduce the geographical scope of the Eurasian patent after grant.
7) The Eurasian Patent Office will operate as a regional patent system under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
8) Eurasian patent applications are to be published 18 months from the filing date or, where priority is claimed, from the priority date. Searches will be carried out automatically after filing but substantive examination will only be carried out upon request and payment of the fee, such requests and fees being required within six months of the publication of the search report.
At present it is expected that the Eurasian Patent Convention will come into effect during 1995.
November 1994 Index