On December 07, 2023, the EAPO Administrative Council, the Organization’s governing body, concluded its 43rd (30th ordinary) session.
Some of the topical outcomes of the session are the following:
1. Amounts of the official fees for legally significant and other actions performed in relation to Eurasian applications and Eurasian patents will be adjusted from January 01, 2024;
2. Amendments and addenda to the Patent Regulations under the Eurasian Patent Convention have been approved and will be effective since January 01, 2024:
- the term for submission of claims when filing a Eurasian application has been set; this amendment is to ensure a timely patent search and publication of the full set of files of a Eurasian application, as well as to help to calculate the unified procedural fee properly,
- the possibility has been introduced for the applicant to proceed with the Eurasian application in case of failure to timely submit claims when filing the Eurasian application, including amended claims for a divisional application,
- the term for filing oppositions against the grant of Eurasian patents for inventions and industrial designs under the administrative revocation procedure has been increased from 9 months to 3 years; this measure is to provide third parties with additional time to challenge a Eurasian patent under the centralized administrative revocation procedure and ensure more uniform dispute resolution,
- the provisions on the examination of Eurasian industrial design applications have been clarified,
- the option of mediation of a dispute in case of identity or confusing similarity of an industrial design with trademarks with an earlier priority has been introduced.
3. The Statute on the Eurasian Pharmaceutical Register (Pharmaceutical Register) has been approved, which enables any person to use the data from the Pharmaceutical Register as official data in order to inform the public about the exclusive rights to inventions related to active pharmaceutical ingredients. The Statute also stipulates possible mechanisms for securing the legal status of information from the Pharmaceutical Register on the territory of a particular EAPC Member State by signing relevant agreements. The Member States will decide on the use of information from the Pharmaceutical Register as official information, with due regard to the requirements of national legislation.