Patent granting procedure

1. Short-term patents for invention in the Republic of Armenia

There are two types of patents issued in the Republic of Armenia: patent for invention and short-term patent for invention.

2. Application and attached documents

The application of invention must relate to a single invention or a group of inventions forming a single inventive idea (requirement of unity of invention).

To obtain a patent, application must be filed at the Intellectual Property Office (hereinafter referred to as the Office) for an invention patent or a short-term patent for an invention, which includes:

1) application for patent (short-term patent);

2) description of the invention.

3) the definition of the claim of the invention, which includes at least one independent point;

4) drawings and other materials, if they are necessary to understand the essence of the invention;

5) summary of the invention (abstract).

The following documents should be submitted together with the application:

1) power of attorney, if the application was filed through a patent attorney or a representative, unless otherwise provided by law;

2) Armenian translation of the application documents, if in accordance with Article 42 (2) of the Law on Patents, the application has been filed in another language;

3) The document confirming the payment of the state fee defined by the Law on State Duty (reference), and if the state fee was paid at a reduced rate, also a document confirming the grounds for payment at a reduced rate as of the day of payment of the state duty.

3. The request for two patent documents

The same invention may be the subject of an invention patent application and a short-term patent application for an invention. The request for two patent documents can be made by the same applicant by filing the relevant applications at thfe same time (paying the state fee for filing an application separately for each application).

4. Language of the application:

The application for a patent (short-term patent) is filed in Armenian.

Other application documents are submitted in Armenian. In case of submitting the other documents in another language, the applicant is obliged to submit their Armenian translation to the Office within three months from the date of application filing.

5. The means of application filing

The application is submitted to the Office in a written form, by hand or by post, or through the electronic application system on the official website of the Office.

6. Examination of the application

The Office shall verify the compliance of the application and the invention that is its subject with the requirements outlined in the Law on Patents. For this purpose, the Office shall conduct a formal (the date of filing of the application is determined) and preliminary examination of the application, and in the case of an application for a patent for an invention, also a substantive examination of the invention (based on a written application submitted by the applicant or any third party).

The Office shall determine the filing date of the application by the date of receipt of the application. It shall assign a registration number to the application if it contains at least:

1) a reference (application) to the fact that the application seeks a patent for an invention or a short-term patent for an invention,

2) information that allows the applicant to be identified or contacted,

3) an element that is outwardly reminiscent of a description of the invention.

The filing date of an international application shall be determined under the PCT.

7. Preliminary examination of the application

After setting the application filing date, the Office conducts a preliminary examination of the application within three months.

If during the preliminary examination it is found that there are missing parts or documents in the application or additional materials, the Office shall send a request to the applicant with a proposal to submit the missing parts or documents within three months from the date of sending the request. In this case, the deadline for the preliminary examination is suspended until the response to the request is received, but not longer than the deadline for the submission of the response to the request.

8. Publication of a patent application

In case of a decision to publish an application for an invention based on the results of the preliminary examination, the Office shall publish the application from the date of its filing, and in case of a requested priority, after the expiration of 18 months from the date of the priority.

Information on international applications is published six months after the date of transfer to the national stage.

According to the applicant's application, subject to the payment of the state fee defined by law (10,000 AMD), the application may be published before the expiration of the mentioned eighteen-month period, but not earlier than three months from the date of application filing.

9. Third party objections

After the date of publication of the application, but not later than before any decision of the Office made during the substantive examination, any third party may submit objection to the Office on granting a patent for the invention in accordance with Article 65 (1) (1-3) of the Law on Patents.

The Office shall notify the applicant of the objection received within two months from the date of sending the notice, with a proposal to submit its considerations.

The Office shall publish the received objection and considerations submitted by the applicant within one month from the date of their receipt.

The received objections and the considerations of the applicant are taken into account during the substantive examination of the invention.

10. Decision of the Office on granting a short-term patent for the invention

In the case of an application for a short-term patent, if the Office considers that the application documents and supplementary materials meet the requirements of the Law, the subject matter of the invention is patentable within the meaning of Article 13 of the Law of RA on Patents, the Office shall check the compliance of the invention with the conditions of patentability of the invention protected by a short-term patent, as a result of which the Office decides whether to grant a short-term patent or refuse.

11. Substantive examination of the invention

After the publication of application or based on a written application submitted by the request or any third party, which may be submitted to the Office within five years from the date of the application filing or the transfer of an international application to national stage, a substantive examination of the invention shall be conducted.

Within the framework of the substantive examination of the invention, in particular, the compliance of the invention with the conditions of patentability of invention defined by Article 12 (2) of the Law on Patents (reference) is checked.

Based on the results of the substantive examination, the Office makes a decision on whether to grant a patent for the invention or to refuse to grant a patent.

12. Conditions for payment of state fee for granting a patent

The decision to grant a patent for an invention or a short-term patent for an invention shall be sent by the Office to the applicant within three months from the date of its sending, with a proposal to pay the state fee for patent. The mentioned state duty can be paid within six months after the expiration of the established term, and in that case the amount of the state duty is increased by 50%.

13. Patent granting and publication of information about it

In case of payment of the state fee established by law on the basis of the decision on granting a patent, the Office registers the invention in the relevant state register and issues a patent. If a patent is applied in the name of several individuals, all of them are granted one patent.

At the same time as registering the invention in the register, the Office publishes information on granting a patent in its official bulletin.

Publication of information on the issuance of a short-term patent for an invention in the official bulletin and the registration of the invention in the register is made no earlier than three months after the date of filing of the application, as well as after the date of transfer to the national stage of the international application.

Simultaneously with the publication of the patent information, the Office publishes the full description of the invention attached to the patent (description of the invention, definition of the claim, in appropriate cases, drawings and other materials).