Armenia

Intellectual Property Rights protection

Trademark Protection Procedure

The procedure is initiated by filing an application for the grant of a trademark with the Intellectual Property Office of Armenia. It is necessary to submit a completed request for the grant of a trademark, accompanying Power of Attorney (as foreign entities must be represented by a local patent attorney), and proof that the costs have been paid. The POA can be filed later, within two months after the filing of the application.

In case of claiming priority, the original first application or its certified copy must be filed within three months after the filing date.

After receiving the application, the Office will issue a publication decision if the documents are duly filed. Trademarks are published in the official bulletin at the beginning and in the middle of every month. This is to allow third parties to oppose the registration of the trademark. The publication period is two months.

If no objection is filed, the trademark proceeds to the examination stage, where the expert conducts a substantive examination and ensures that the trademark complies with the requirements of the Trademark Law. Within a month the decision is made.

One of the grounds for refusal is that the sign cannot be protected as a trademark if it is identical to an earlier trademark application/registration for the same goods and/or services. Refusal on relative grounds. Refusal on absolute grounds is also possible.

If the expert issues a decision about registration of the trademark, within three months a proof of payment for registering the trademark and issue of a certificate has to be filed. The IP Office will then proceed with the registration of the trademark, and the applicant will receive a certificate of registration.

The entire process, from application to registration, usually takes between 3 to 5 months, provided that there are no objections, notifications, or refusals.

Registered trademarks in the Republic of Armenia have a validity of ten years from the application date and can be renewed indefinitely for further periods of ten years. There is a grace period of six months after the expiration date during which the trademark renewal may still be requested upon payment of a late renewal fee.

Armenia is also a member state of the Madrid Protocol. Thus, the extension of an international registration of a trademark via the Madrid System is possible.

Civil Protection

In the case of infringement of a trademark or the rights conferred by a trademark application, where the trademark is granted, the plaintiff may claim in an action:

1. establishment of the infringement of rights;
2. prohibition of the continuation of infringement as committed, and of future similar infringements by means of cessation or omission of acts which are infringing such right;
3. termination of a situation caused by the infringement;
4. recall of infringing objects from the channels of commerce, respecting the interests of third parties acting in good faith;
5. complete removal of infringing objects from channels of commerce;
6. destruction of infringing objects;
7. destruction of means which are exclusively or predominantly intended or used for infringing acts, and which are owned by the infringer;
8. surrender of infringing objects to the right holder, along with reimbursement of production costs;
9. compensation for property damage and reimbursement of reasonable expenses of the proceedings;
10. publication of the court’s judgment at the expense of the defendant.

The registration of a trademark may, based on a court decision as a result of a hearing of a claim filed by any person or a counterclaim for the protection of the rights, be canceled concerning all or part of the goods and/or services for which it is registered where within a continuous period of three uninterrupted years after the date of the registration of the trademark or, in case of filing the claim (counterclaim) at a later date, the proprietor or the person entitled by this Law has not put the trademark to genuine use during an uninterrupted period of three years immediately proceeding filing the claim or the counterclaim. The evidence on the use of the trademark shall be presented by the right holder or the person having a right to use that trademark according to this Law.

A trademark can be declared invalid on absolute grounds during its whole registration period.

A trademark can be declared invalid on relative grounds during the first five years of registration.

Industrial Design

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.

An industrial design application includes:

• application for obtaining a patent;
• information that allows to identify the applicant;
• Photo (s) or graphic image (s) that fully reproduce the appearance of the item or several items included in the application;
• the designation of the product in which the industrial design may be embodied or used.

An industrial design application may include:

• 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.
• information that allows to identify the patent attorney or other representative of the applicant (if any);
• information on the requested priority (if applicable);
• classification index according to the Locarno Agreement.
• 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:

• the power of attorney in case of filing the application through a patent attorney or other representative;
• description of the industrial design;
• the document confirming the priority of the industrial design, in case of requesting a priority;
• 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 Article 28 of the Law on State Duty.

2. The language of the application

According to 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, and gives the application a serial registration number, if it contains at least the following:

• note (application) that an industrial design patent is being applied for;
• information that allows to identify the applicant;
• 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;
• 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 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:

• 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;
• 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 a priority date without the permission of the rightsholder;
• According to 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:

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

• to issue a patent, if the industrial design meets the requirements of patentability,
• to refuse to grant a patent based on the grounds for refusing to grant a patent provided by 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 of the patent information in the official bulletin of the Office

Patent Granting Procedure

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

1. 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, an 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:

• application for patent (short-term patent);
• description of the invention.
• the definition of the claim of the invention, which includes at least one independent point;
• drawings and other materials, if they are necessary to understand the essence of the invention;
• summary of the invention (abstract).

The following documents should be submitted together with the application:

• power of attorney, if the application was filed through a patent attorney or a representative unless otherwise provided by law;
• 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;
• 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 the same time (paying the state fee for filing an application separately for each application).

2. 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.

3. The means of application filing

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

4. Application examination

The Office shall examine the compliance of the invention application with the requirements of the Law of RA on Patents. For this purpose, the Office conducts a formal (the date of application filing is defined) and preliminary examination of the application, and, on the application for granting a patent for an invention, a substantive examination of the invention (based on a written application submitted by the applicant or any third party).

The office determines the date of filing of the application by the date of receipt of the application; and gives the application a serial registration number if it contains at least the following:

• an indication (application) that an application for an invention patent or a short-term invention patent is being applied for;
• information that allows to identify the applicant and communicate with him/her;
• an element that looks like a description of an invention.

The date of submission of the international application is determined in accordance with the PCT.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 an 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.

8. 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.

9. Substantive examination of the invention

After the publication of the 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 a 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 the 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.

10. 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 a 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%.

11. 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).

Grant and Registration: If the patent application successfully passes all examinations and any opposition, AIPO issues a patent certificate, granting exclusive rights to the inventor for a specified period (25 years from the filing date). For a short-term patent, the certificate grants exclusive rights for 10 years from the filing date.

Maintenance and Renewal: After the patent is granted, the owner must pay maintenance fees periodically to keep the patent in force. In Armenia, annuity fees are due annually, starting from the second year after the filing date. Failure to pay these fees can lead to the expiration of the patent.

Geographical Indications

The registration of a geographical indication, place of origin, and guaranteed traditional product is carried out based on the application of one or more persons who produce the given product in the given geographical location and based on registration receive the right to use the given geographical indication, if the product produced by them corresponds to the product requirements indicated by the location. The location can also be registered based on the application of organizations protecting the rights of consumers or other competent bodies related to the production of the given product.

Unlike trademarks, the right to use a registered place name can be granted to any person producing goods with the same characteristics in the same geographical location. In other words, the owner of the place name does not exist as such, therefore there can be no question of exclusive rights to the place name.

The registration of the geographical indication is valid indefinitely, but it is terminated if the natural conditions characteristic of the given geographical location disappear.

The name that, being the name of the geographical object of the real origin of the product, gives the consumer a false idea that the product originated from another geographical object of the same name is not subject to legal protection as the place of origin of the product.

In the case of geographical indications of the same name for the individualization of wines, each of them is given legal protection if they contain appropriate distinctive additions, provided that the provisions of the previous paragraph and the fair interests of the producers are preserved.

Procedurally, the provisions relating to the submission of an application for registration of a place name, its consideration, the conduct of a place name examination, as well as the registration of the place name, the publication of official information about it, and the issuance of a certificate of use, basically repeat the provisions relating to trademarks, which have already been discussed in detail.

However, the provisions governing the relations related to refusal of a place name registration, acquisition of rights to its use, invalidation of the certificate of right of use, and termination of the right to a place name differ from the provisions related to trademarks.

Copyright and Related Rights

Copyright protection in Armenia follows international standards and provides creators with rights and remedies to protect their original works.

ArmAuthor NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) is an organization based in Armenia dedicated to supporting and promoting the rights and interests of authors and creators in the field of intellectual property, particularly in literature, music, visual arts, and other creative endeavors. ArmAuthor NGO is safeguarding the objects of copyright and thus, rights and interests of authors and creators in Armenia, ensuring that they receive fair compensation for the use of their creative works and advocating for a supportive legal and regulatory framework for intellectual property rights.