1.  Requirements for the application 

In order to obtain an industrial design patent, an industrial design application shall be filed at the Intellectual Property Office of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as the Office).

An industrial design application may relate to one or more industrial designs, provided that they relate to one class, with the exception of ornaments.

Industrial design application includes:

1) application for obtaining a patent;

2) information that allows to identify the applicant;

3) Photo (s) or graphic image (s) that fully reproduce the appearance of the item or several items included in the application;

4) the designation of the product in which the industrial design may be embodied or used.

An industrial design application may include:

1) information that allows the author (s) to be identified and in case the author refuses to be mentioned in the application, the applicant's statement that the author has refused to be mentioned as such in the application.

2) information that allows to identify the patent attorney or other representative of the applicant (if any);

3) information on the requested priority (if applicable);

4) classification index according to the Locarno Agreement.

5) request to postpone the publication of the industrial design application in accordance with Article 44 (2) of the Law of RA on Industrial Design.

The following documents are attached to the industrial design application:

1) the power of attorney in case of filing the application through a patent attorney or other representative;

2) description of the industrial design;

3) the document confirming the priority of the industrial design, in case of requesting a priority;

4) receipt of the state fee payment defined by law, and in case the state fee is paid at a reduced rate, the grounds for discount according to the Article 28 of the Law on State Duty.

2. The language of the application

According to the Article 42 (2-3) of the Law of RA on Industrial Design, the application for obtaining a patent is submitted in Armenian language.

Other application documents may be submitted in another language. In this case, the applicant is obliged to submit their Armenian translations to the Office within three months after the application filing.

3. Application forms

Application and other documents are submitted to the Office by hand or by postal delivery, or through the electronic application system (electronically) by visiting the Office's website www.aipo.am.

4. Examination of the application

The Office checks the compliance of the industrial design with the requirements of the Law of RA on Industrial Design. For this purpose, the Office conducts the formal examination (the date of the application filing is defined), preliminary and substantive examinations.

During the formal examination of the application, the Office determines the date of the application filing by the date of receipt of the application, gives the application a serial registration number, if it contains at least:

1) note (application) that an industrial design patent is being applied for;

2) information that allows to identify the applicant;

3) a photo (s) or a graphic image (s) revealing the appearance of the item or several items included in the application or a part of them;

4) receipt of state fee payment defined by law.

The date of the international application filing is determined according to the Hague Agreement.

5. Preliminary examination of the application

 

After setting the application filing date, the Office conducts a preliminary examination of the application within ten working days.

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

Within two months from the date of filing the application, on its own initiative or upon request, the applicant may, by submitting additional materials, make corrections in the materials of the application, without changing the essence of the submitted industrial design.

6. Publication of industrial design application

If the Office considers that the application documents and additional materials in their content comply with the requirements set by the Law of RA on Industrial Design, the Office makes a decision to publish the application in the Official Bulletin of Industrial Property within 15 working days.

According to the applicant's application, based on the payment of the state fee defined by law (10000 AMD), the publication of the application may be postponed for no more than six months from the date of the application filing.

7. Third party objections

Within two months from the date of publication of the application, any interested party may file a written objection to the granting of an industrial design patent to the Office on the following grounds:

1) Industrial design does not comply with the requirements set in Article 11 of the Law of RA on Industrial Design or contradicts the public interest or the principles of ethics;

2) industrial design includes an object protected by copyright, if those rights have been acquired before the date of submission of the application for the given industrial design or the date of priority (if any) or any other protected object of industrial property with priority date without the permission of the rightholder;

3)According to the Articles 18 and 19 of the Law of RA on Industrial Design, the applicant is not a person entitled to submit an application.

The objection is considered submitted if the receipt of the state fee payment (10000 AMD) is attached to it.

Based on the results of the discussion of the objection, the Office makes one of the following decisions:

1) to satisfy the objection in whole or partially, if all or some of the declared industrial designs are not subject to patenting;

2) to reject the objection.

8. Substantive examination of industrial design

Within three months after the publication of the application, the Office conducts a substantive examination of the application to verify the compliance of the industrial design with the provisions of the Law of RA on Industrial Design (novelty and originality).

The patentability of the industrial design is checked, taking into account at least the information directly available to the Office.

9. Decision on granting a patent

Based on the results of substantive examination of the industrial design, taking into account the decisions made as a result of the discussion of the objection, the Office shall make a decision:

1) to issue a patent, if the industrial design meets the requirements of patentability,

2) to refuse to grant a patent based on the grounds for refusing to grant a patent provided by the Article 28 of the Law of RA on Industrial Design.

10. Granting a patent for industrial design and publishing information about it

Based on the decision on granting the patent, the Office shall register the industrial design in the State Register of Industrial Designs and issue the patent within three months from the date of sending the decision to the applicant. If the patent is filed on behalf of several persons, all of them are granted one patent together. Moreover, in case of paying of the relevant state fee, a copy of the patent may be given to each of the persons.

The date of the patent granting is the date of publication o  f the patent information in the official bulletin of the Office "Industrial Pro