April 2024

KAZAKHSTAN

EDITED BY

EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEYS ATTORNEYS AT LAW

TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS

Martin Luten The Hague, Munich E-mail: ipmanual@arnold-siedsma.com Website: www.arnold-siedsma.com

IN COLLABORATION WITH

Alan Potter Australian Registered Patent Attorney E-mail: alanp@sortify.tm Saule Kulzhambekova Almaty, Kazakhstan E-mail: Skulzhambekova@BolotovIP.com Website: www.BolotovIP.com This chapter was last reviewed by the Author in December 2023.

Kazakhstan is a republic in Central Asia, one of the fifteen Republics that prior to 25 December 1991, have formed the former Soviet Union (USSR). Kazakhstan declared its independence on 16 December 1991.

Kazakhstan belongs to the Republics that, at the end of 1991, formed the so-called Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The Kazakh Patent Office, the National Institute for Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Justice, was established on 23 June 1992.

PART 1 PATENTS

 

§1.01 Summary

Kinds of Patents

National patent

Duration of Patents

20 years from the filing date for full national patents

Patentable / Not Patentable

An invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step, and is industrially applicable.

The exceptions as mentioned in Rule 39 PCT apply.

Also not patentable are algorithms and computer software, projects and plans of layouts of construction, appearance of an article.

Novelty

Absolute novelty for patents applies.

6 months grace period preceding filing/priority date applies.

Filing Requirements and Application Procedure

Filing languages: any

Language of translation: Kazakh or Russian

Time limit for filing translation: 2 months from filing

A full national patent is granted after formal and substantive examination of the application

Specific Aspects of Regional Patents

Kazakhstan is a party to the Eurasian Patent Convention. Eurasian patents can be validated in Kazakhstan.

Specific Aspects of International Patent Applications (PCT)

Time limit for entering National/Regional Phase: 31 months from the priority date

Time limit for filing translation: 2 months from the national phase entry deadline date

(with possibility of further 2 months extension)

Language of translation: Kazakh or Russian.

Governmental Websites

https://www.qazpatent.kz

§1.02 Detailed Information

Conventions and Legislation

Conventions

The relevant patent conventions of Kazakhstan are as follows:

Paris Convention (International Union), 1883–1967, effective from 25 December 1991;

Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (hereinafter ‘WIPO

Convention’), 1967, effective from 25 December 1991;

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), 1970, effective from 25 December 1991;

Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (hereinafter ‘Budapest Union’), 1977, effective from 24 April 2002;

Hague Convention Abolishing Requirement for Legalization, 1961, effective from 30 January 2001;

Eurasian Patent Convention, 1994, effective from 4 November 1995; and

Patent Law Treaty, 2000, effective from 19 October 2011.

Laws

Patent Law No. 427-3IPK as of 16 July 1999, which entered into force on 21 August 1999 (the law governs patent protection of inventions, utility models and industrial designs).

Kinds of Patents

The kinds of patents are as follows:

Full National Patents for invention.

Duration of Patents

Quick Answer: Duration

20 years from filing date

The duration of a patent for invention is twenty years from the filing date for full national patents granted based on the results of substantive examination.

Patent term extension / Supplementary protection certificate

Quick Answer: Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) or patent term extension for pharmaceuticals

Yes, extension of patent terms for pharmaceuticals

The term of validity of a pharmaceutical and/or an agrochemical patent, the use of which requires obtaining a marketing authorization from a respective competent authority may be extended at a request of the patent owner by no more than five years.

Requirements for Renewal

Quick Answer: Due date maintenance fees

Filing date

Quick Answer: Grace period for maintenance fees

Not applicable in this jurisdiction

Quick Answer: First due date for regular maintenance fees

1 year from filing date

Annuities are payable to maintain both national patents beginning from the first year of issuance. The due date for payment is calculated from the anniversary of the date of filing of the application.

The Kazakhstan law does not provide for payment of the maintenance fees/annuities during

the prosecution of the application.

Patent annuities are paid after grant.

The validity of the title of protection shall expire prematurely in the event of failure to pay the annual maintenance fee by the prescribed time limit as from the date of expiration of the said time limit. At the same time at the request of the patent owner the validity of the patent that has expired prematurely on the above mentioned ground may be yet restored, within three years following the date of expiration of the time limit for payment the annual maintenance fee, provided that the patent owner presents legitimate reasons to justify their failure and furnishes a document containing proof of payment of the prescribed restoration fee.

Patentable / Not Patentable

An invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step, and is industrially applicable. Patents can be granted for devices, products (including chemical and pharmaceutical products), processes (including diagnostic and therapeutic methods for animals and humans),

known substances or strains used for a new indication. The exceptions as mentioned in Rule 39 PCT apply.

The list of exceptions to patent protection includes the following:

scientific discoveries and theories, mathematical methods;

business methods;

symbols, schedules and rules, methods of mental operations;

algorithms and computer software;

projects and plans of layouts of constructions;

solutions regarding appearance of an article;

methods of cloning human beings and human’s clone;

methods of altering the genetic integrity of human germline cells;

the use of human embryos for commercial, military, and industrial purposes

Chemical compositions

Patents can be granted for chemical compositions that are patentable products or processes.

....continue reading