Azerbaijan

What Can Be Protected As An Invention?

• Swiss-type claims (the first, second or subsequent medical use of a known substance or composition).
• Also technical solutions (products and/or methods) from any field of technology which after examination have been proven to be new (of novelty), inventive (possessing the inventive step), and industrially applicable.

What Cannot Be Protected As An Invention?

• Aesthetic and thereby non-technical creations.
• Game regulations and guidelines for intellectual and economic activity.
• Scientific theories, Discoveries, and Mathematical Methods.
• Plant and animal varieties as well as the biological means of obtaining them.
• Computer programs.
• Presentations of information.
• The modification of human genes as well as methods for cloning humans.
• The use of human embryos in commercial or industrial purposes.
• Any other invention contrary to morality or public policy.
• Methods of treatment.
• Methods of diagnostics.

Deadline: For filing of a national Patent Application in Azerbaijan, the patent application is required to be filed with the Azerbaijan Patent Office (AZPATENT) within twelve (12) months from the earliest priority date.

Representation: The client must be represented at the Azerbaijan Patent Office by a registered Azerbaijan Patent Attorney.

Translation: Application materials should be translated and filed in the Azerbaijani language but the Azerbaijan Patent Office requires also Russian translations of the claims and abstract.

Formal Examination: The process for the examination of Patent Applications in Azerbaijan includes a formal examination after which the decision to publish the application is issued; and after the payment of corresponding fees within two (2) months, the application is published.

Substantive Examination: The petition for substantive examination should be filed on the client’s request within eighteen (18) months from the application filing date in which the invention will be checked for novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability. The patent is issued or not, after the completion of the substantive examination and in accordance with the results of said examination.

If no request for a substantive examination is filed however within six (6) months from the application publication date and no opposition is filed also within this period, then the patent is automatically issued at the responsibility of the applicant.

Office Action: In case of an Office Action, our Azerbaijani Patent Attorney will carefully review the Office Action to provide a Legal Opinion and discuss with the Applicant options available in overcoming said Office Action.

Duration: The procedure for registration of a patent in Azerbaijan usually takes between two (2) and three (3) years.

Fees: The patent is issued after payment of the registration, first post grant annuities and publication fees.

Maintenance: Maintenance fees regarding the patent are required to be paid annually with annuity for the following year being made in the current year of validity.

Validity: In Azerbaijan a patent is valid for twenty (20) years after the initial filing date. It is however possible for agrochemical and pharmaceuticals to apply for an extension of five (5) years on their patent.

Required documents for Filing a Patent Application in Azerbaijan:

• Applicant’s information (name and address);
• Inventor’s information (name and address);
• Description, claims, abstract and drawings, disclosing the invention;
• Original of the POA signed by applicant(s). Notarization or Legalization is not required.

Protection in Azerbaijan can also be made through the EAPO (Eurasian Patent Office).