On March 18, 2018 Law On introduction of amendments and additions and as well as repeal of certain legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan entered into force.

The amendments and additions were introduced into laws "On patents, utility models and industrial designs", "On new varieties of plants" and "On trademarks and service marks and geographical indications".

The new law broadens the scope of objects patentable as utility model, i.e. objects of utility model may now be both a product (device, composition, microorganism strain, animal and plant cell culture) and a method. Thus, the objects patentable as utility models have become equal to those patentable as inventions, but utility model patentability criteria remain unchanged. Now, applicants interested in obtainment of utility model patent protection can choose the prosecution procedure both for products and methods. It is worth mentioning that the timeframe of utility model registration procedure in Uzbekistan constitutes about 1-2 years while invention patent registration procedure takes up to 2-5 years. Additionally, invention patent registration procedure is more expensive than the utility model registration.

Another amendment concerns issuance of patents on new varieties of plants. A patent will be issued after 10 working days from the date of patent publication while previously it was issued after a 6-month period. Also, in case of patent lapse a patent owner may file a request for patent restoration within 3 years thereof.

The Law also specifies the cases of obtainment of a patent by an author who is an employee on the enterprise as well as cases of obtainment of compensation for use or sale of a license on a corresponding IP object.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that our company has its own office in Uzbekistan, which allows us to provide our clients with proficient consultations and high-quality services in registration and protection of IP rights at competitive prices. If you have any additional inquiries, feel free to contact our specialists in any way convenient for you.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.