A Client choosing the Eurasian Patent System as an instrument covering nine countries of the former Soviet Union - namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan (Contracting States) - receives the full advantage of

- one application instead of filing atwith each separate national patent office;
- one working language (Russian) to avoiding considerable translation costs;
- one examination simplifying the procedure and lowering expenses of your Clients;
- unified protection of rights granted by a common Eurasian Patent which is valid in all Contracting States;
- further easy maintenance by paying annual fees to the Eurasian Patent Office.

The Eurasian Patent Convention came into force on 12 August 1995 with the aim of creatingto create an unitary patent system. It constitutes an agreement within the meaning of Article 19 of the Paris Convention and represents a regional patent treaty within the meaning of Article 45 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty allowing an applicant to obtain athe Eurasian Patent on the basis of an international application. Regional phase entry for PCT applications is 21 months under PCT Article 22 or 31 months under PCT Article 39.

Under the PCT the Eurasian Patent Office acts as a receiving Office, designated Office and elected Office.

A Eurasian Patent is granted for any invention that is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable. If the subject matter of the invention is a method, the protection granted also covers products obtained by that method. The term of the Eurasian Patent is 20 years from the filing date of the Eurasian application. The right of priority ishall be recognized in conformity with the Paris Convention.

EXAMINATION PROCEDURE IN BRIEF

The length of the Eurasian patent grant procedure is up to about 3 to 3,5 years. It can be divided into two stages, the first being the formalities examination and search, the second starting with substantive examination and ending with grant of a patent. Processing time may be significantly reduced at the applicant's request.

Formalities Examination is carried out within two months from the date of receipt of an application, to check the following:

- correct presentation of the application documents;
- unity of invention;
- lawful and proper claims to priority;
- patentability

A Search report is drawn up on the basis of the claims with due regard to the description and, where necessary, additional materials. The purpose of the search is to establish the prior art, which is then used to assess the novelty and inventive step of the invention.

A Eurasian patent application is published by the Eurasian Office after the expiry of a period of 18 months from the date of filing or, if priority has been sought, from the date of priority. It may however be published earlier upon the request of the applicant.

A Request for substantive examination shall be filed with the Eurasian Office within a period of six months from the date of publication of the Eurasian application, or, if the search report was published separately, from the date of its publication.

Substantive examination establishes the patentability of the invention covered by the application. The guiding principle of the substantive examination should be the collection of the greatest possible amount of information capable of influencing the objectivity of the decision in any way.

In assessing industrial applicability, it is first established whether the invention can be made and used as stated in the application (as a rule in the title of the invention) by the means described in the application or available in the prior art. It is also established whether the technical effect claimed in the description can be achieved.

Assessment of the novelty of an invention consists in checking that it does not form part of the state of the art. This check coversincludes all the features included in the independent claims. An invention will not be deemed to be new if prior art is found to incorporateinclude an item whose features are identical to all the features set outincluded in the claims.

Assessment of the inventive step includes the following checks:

- identification of the invention's closest analogue;
- identification of the features which distinguish the invention from its prototype;
- identification of the technical solutions produced by those distinguishing features (or in combination with known features);
- identification of solutions similar to the solution in the prior art.

OTHER FEATURES

Conversion of a Eurasian patent application into a national patent application
An applicant may file a request designating those Contracting States in which he wishes to file a patent application according to the national procedure within six months of notification by the Eurasian Office that his patent application or his appeal against a decision reached by the Eurasian Office has been refused. In each such state, the Eurasian application is deemed to be a correctly drawn up national application filed with the national Office with the same priority date as the Eurasian application.

Provisional protection
Inventions for which a Eurasian patent application has been filed are granted provisional protection for the period between publication and the grant of a Eurasian patent. The protection applies to the published claims and covers all the Contracting States. Provisional protection for an application filed under the PCT commences on the day of its international publication.