The Eurasian Industrial Design: a new regional IP protection came into force in the Designs landscape from 1st June 2021
Véronique Auger
The Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO) is a regional organization, created through a Convention in 1994, comprising today 8 member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Russia.
The recent change offers now to each interested applicant the numerous advantages arising from the protection by mean of a centralised IP title granted for an external appearance of an industrial or handicraft product.
This new Industrial Design protection is applicable for instance, to the product itself, in part or totally, but also its packaging, or the combination of lines and colours, provided that the design is new and original as per stated by the related Eurasian Protocol. A prior disclosure of more than 12 month may invalidate the Design applied for registration. Suitable reproductions of the Design are normally filed on the filing date. Multiple designs filing is moreover possible, with filing fees decreasing gradually for the second up to ten designs, and from the eleventh design of same Locarno classification, which is really interesting in terms of costs and formalities. The initial registration last for 5 years and can be renewed in successive 5 year intervals with the total duration of a registration being 25 years from filing date. Applicants of such Eurasian Industrial Design can claim priority of earlier design applications as per the Paris Convention. It is to be noted that there is no possible deferment of publication and the application is substantively examined before registration.
The EAPO is now in position of granting, through an on-line centralized and cost-effective procedure, Eurasian Industrial Design titles. Owners of IP rights interested in such a territory will appreciate the opportunity to review and complete their IP portfolio in this sense.
References: Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs to the Eurasian Patent Convention of September 9, 1994, came into force on 1st June 2021 after its ratification by the 8 member states of the EAPO.
