About Us

Intellectual property protection system in Armenia is formed by the establishment of the Patent Office under the Government of the Republic of Armenia (the Republic of Armenia Government Decree № 54 from 26 January, 1993) and the National Agency of Copyright (the Republic of Armenia Government Decree № 645 from December 27, 1993). Further the Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Armenia was established by merger of the above two organizations (the Republic of Armenia Government Decree № 197 from 6 March 2002), which has the status of separate division acting within the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development..

Fifty-four specialists work in the seven departments of the Intellectual Property Agency who are civil servants.

The main functions of Intellectual Property Agency are:

• Receiving and examination of applications on subject matters of industrial property and integral microcircuit topologies;
• Granting of patents and certificates and maintenance of state registers for the above subject matters in the prescribed order;
• Examination of oppositions and claims against granting of patents or certificates concerning the decisions on the results of examinations of applications on industrial property subject matters and integral microcircuit topologies;
• Publication of information on industrial property subject matters and integral microcircuit topologies under legal protection;
• Registration of license agreements on use of industrial property subject matters and integral microcircuit topologies, as well as registration of open licenses;
• Qualification of patent attorneys.

At present the laws regulating the legal field of intellectual property are:

• The Republic of Armenia Law on Patents;
• The Republic of Armenia Law on Trade Names;
• The Republic of Armenia Law on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellation of Origin;
• The Republic of Armenia Law on Legal Protection of Integral Microcircuit Topologies;
• The Republic of Armenia Law on Copyright and Related Rights.

Parallel to the development of the national system of intellectual property in the Republic of Armenia the international cooperation has been continued and enlarged.
Today the Republic of Armenia is a member of the following international agreements and international organizations:

• Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, 25 December, 1991,
• Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, 19 October, 2000,
• Madrid Agreement on the International Registration of Marks, 25 December, 1991,
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), 25 December, 1991,
• Intergovernmental Council on Industrial Property Protection Issues, 12 March, 1992,
• World Intellectual Property Organization, 22 April, 1993,
• European Patent Organization, 27 February, 1996,
• Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, 19 October, 2000,
• Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite, 13 December, 1993,
• The Eurasian Patent Organization, 27 February 1996,
• Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks19 October 2000,
• Geneva Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms, against unauthorized Duplication of their Phonograms, 31 January, 2003,
• Rome convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers, of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations, 31 January, 2003,
• Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, 6 March, 2005,
• Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, 6 March, 2005,
• Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification, 6 March, 2005,
• Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, 6 March, 2005,
• WIPO Copyright Treaty, 6 March, 2005,
• WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, 6 March, 2005.

The Agency publishes "Industrial Property" Official Gazette in Armenian and Russian once every quarter, the first issue of which is published in 1995. Since 2002 the Gazette is issued only on laser CD-s.

Within the frameworks of patent information exchange the Gazettes are sent free of charge to the Patent Offices of foreign countries, International Organizations, to several libraries and other organizations of the Republic of Armenia.

The Official Gazette "Invention Applications" is published every month where the invention applications are open for inspection by public.

The Agency also publishes the full descriptions of patented inventions and utility models.

Within the frameworks of the Agreement signed in Moscow on 22 June 2001 "On Issue of Joint Product on Regional Patent Information on CD-s" between the Patent Offices of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Russian Federation and EAPO (Eurasian Patent Office), CD-s on bibliographic data on inventions are issued in Armenian, Russian and English.

As from 2004 an information-search system on inventions and utility models in Armenian, Russian and English is created on Internet Home Page jointly with the Eurasian Patent Office and the Agency. The information-search system on the base of Eurasian patent-information system EAPATIS permits to carry out search in Armenian, Russian and English. It contains patent documentation in the indicated three languages beginning from the first registration till now including title page and the whole description (only in Armenian). The mentioned system will permit all the interested persons to have free access to inventions and utility models registered in Armenia.

The results of the activity of the Agency in brief are presented in Annual Reports, which are issued in Armenian, Russian and English.