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Patents of Invention

Legal Basis

– Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks Registration Act, 23/01/2008, in force since March 10, 2009.
– Regulations for the implementation thereof, 20/01/2009, in force since March 10, 2009.

Membership in International Conventions

– Paris Convention.
– Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Filing Requirements

– Power of attorney, legalized up to the Iranian Consulate;
– Specification (in English), to be translated into Farsi by the resident agent, and drawings, if any;
– Whenever foreign priority is claimed, a certified copy thereof, together with an English translation;
– Documents evidencing identification of the applicant, notarized only;
– WIPO publication.

Remarks

National Phase of PCT: under Chapter I: 30 months; under Chapter II: 30 months. Note: effective from May 30, 2018: (1) the term of protection is counted from the PCT filing date, no longer the Iranian application date; (2) PCT patents are subject to annuity payments counted from the PCT filing date and all past annuities must be paid, thus patent applications filed on or after May 30, 2018 are subject to back annuities accumulated in the international stage. PCT applications and granted patents prior to May 30, 2018 must pay the missing annuities at the next annuity payment. PCT applications that are in the process of registration must pay the missing annuities prior to the Intellectual Property Center of Iran granting the patent.
Duration: patent issued after formal and substantive examination – valid for 20 years.
Annuities: the first annual tax is paid at the moment of filing. Subsequent payments must occur on/or before the anniversary of filing, or per anticipation.
Opposition: not possible.
Nullification: any interested party may refer to the Tehran Court and apply for the cancellation of the Letters Patent if the invention is not a new invention or if the patent has been issued contrary to the provisions of the Law.

 

Trade and Service Marks

Legal Basis

– Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks Registration Act, 23/01/2008, in force since March 10, 2009.
– Regulations for the implementation thereof, 20/01/2009, in force since March 10, 2009.

Membership in International Conventions

– Paris Convention.
– Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol.

Filing Requirements

– Power of attorney, legalized up to the Iranian Consulate;
– Electronic sample of the mark (6 x 6 cm in jpeg format);
– If priority is claimed, a certified copy thereof;
– Documents evidencing identification of the applicant, notarized only.

Remarks

Duration – renewals: 10 years from the filing date; renewable for further periods of 10 years.
Obligation to use the registered mark: any interested party may request the court to cancel a registered trademark if he establishes that the owner of a registered mark, or a person authorized by him, has not used the said mark for a period of at least three full years running from the date of registration up to one month prior to filing the request.
Opposition: within thirty days after the publication of the application in the Official Gazette, interested persons considering the similarity between the marks may file an administrative opposition thereagainst. The base trademark and opposed application should cover identical goods and classes, otherwise the opposition is rejected.

 

Industrial Designs

Legal Basis

– Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks Registration Act, 23/01/2008, in force since March 10, 2009.
– Regulations for the implementation thereof, 20/01/2009, in force since March 10, 2009.

Membership in International Conventions

– Paris Convention.

Filing Requirements

– Power of attorney, legalized up to the Iranian Consulate;
– A brief explanation of the design;
– Graphic representation of the article embodying the design (from different views);
– Priority document, if applicable;
– Documents evidencing identification of the applicant and the designer.

Remarks

Duration: after formal examination and novelty examination: 5 years. This period may be renewed for two further consecutive periods of 5 years.
Opposition: not possible.

 

Domain Names

Filing

ccTLD: .ir (also available in Persian).
Applicant: individuals and legal entities.
Local presence: not required.

Remarks

Duration – renewals: one to five years, renewable.
Uniform dispute resolution procedure: available (variation of UDRP) before WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center.