The Depositary of the Eurasian patent Convention — the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) — has notified that the Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs to the Eurasian Patent Convention of September 9, 1994 will enter into force on March 17, 2021 in respect of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia.
This is an event of extreme importance for the Eurasian space since it will be possible to protect industrial designs under a procedure similar to the procedure for protecting inventions in the member states of the Eurasian Patent Convention.
The Russian Federation has also ratified this document, and we look forward to its signature and entry into force.
However, at the moment there is no regulatory instruction to the Protocol, setting up the procedural rules (which is still under negotiation), so there is no clear understanding of what the procedure for the protection of industrial designs under this Protocol will be.