Turkmenistan

What Can Be Protected As An Invention?

• Methods of treatment.
• Methods of diagnostics.
• 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.

Deadline: For national patent registration in Turkmenistan, the patent application is required to be filed with the Turkmenistan Patent Office (TkPTO) within twelve (12) months from the earliest priority date.

Representation: The client must be represented at the Turkmenistan Patent office by a registered Turkmenistan Patent Attorney.

Translation: Application materials should be translated and filed in the Russian or Turkmenian language.

Preliminary Examination: The process for the examination of Patent Applications in Turkmenistan includes a preliminary examination within six (6) months after filing. Following the preliminary examination the Turkmenistan Patent Office issues a Temporary patent which is valid for five (5) years.

Substantive Examination: The petition for substantive examination to obtain the full patent, valid for twenty (20) years, should be filed on the client’s request immediately following the filing of the request for suspension of the issue of the Temporary patent. The petition for the substantive examination should be filed within five (5) years from the initial application filing date. For this a copy of a patent or a decision to grant a patent will have to be submitted alongside the application to prove patentability. The patent is issued or not, after the completion of the substantive examination and in accordance with the results of said examination.

Office Action: In case of an Office Action, our Turkmenistan 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 Turkmenistan usually takes between one (1) and six (6) years.

Fees: The patent is issued after payment of the relevant 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 Turkmenistan a patent is valid for twenty (20) years after the initial filing date.

Required documents for Filing a Patent Application in Turmenistan:

• 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 Turkmenistan can also be made through the EAPO (Eurasian Patent Office).