Turkmenistan

GENERAL INFORMATION

Area: 488,100 sq. km.

Population: 5,744,151 (2024).

Capital: Ashgabat.

Language: Turkmen (official), Russian.

Currency: Manat.

 

GENERAL REMARKS

Turkmenistan used to be a part of the former Soviet Union. The Republic declared its independence on October 27, 1991. The Patent Office of Turkmenistan (Turkmenpatent) was established in December 1993. Turkmenistan is a Neutral State, so declared officially by UNO on December 12, 1995.

 

PATENTS OF INVENTION

LEGAL BASIS

• Law on Legal Protection of Inventions, in force since November 11, 2017.

 

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, Stockholm Act, since March 1, 1995.
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), since March 1, 1995.
• Eurasian Patent Convention, since August 12, 1995.

 

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney (no legalization but stamped or sealed);
• Specification and abstract;
• Drawings;
• Copy of an opinion of one of the International Preliminary Examination authorities on the patentability of the claimed invention;
• Priority document, if priority is claimed, to be filed within three months from the filing date.

 

REMARKS

National Phase of PCT: under Chapter I: 30 months; under Chapter II: 31 months.

Validity: Short-term patent (if full examination is not requested): issued after formal examination – valid for 10 years as of the filing date. Patent: issued after full examination – valid for 20 years.

Annuities: are accumulated and paid with the granting fee, and for subsequent years, on the anniversary of the filing date (or International filing date for PCT).

Opposition: possible during the entire term of protection, through the Patent Office Appeal Board

 

 

TRADE AND SERVICE MARKS

LEGAL BASIS

• Law on Trademarks, in force since June 19, 2019.

 

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, Stockholm Act, since March 1, 1995.
• Madrid Protocol, since September 15, 1999

 

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney (no legalization but stamped or sealed);
• Prints of the sign to be protected (20);
• List of goods and services, according to the International Classification; one application may include goods belonging to more than one International Class (to be translated into Turkmen or Russian);
• Priority document, if any (to be filed within three months from the filing date).

 

REMARKS

Kinds of protection: trademarks and service marks (word marks, device marks and combinations thereof). Besides the original version, filing of word mark applications in the Cyrillic alphabet is highly recommended, the Russian language still being a parallel language in the country.

Classification: International.

Obligation to use the registered mark: compulsory, must be used; if not used within any three-year period from the filing date, the mark can be cancelled upon request of an interested party; nominal use (advertising, publications) is accepted in absence of actual use.

Duration – renewals: 10-year period after the filing date or last renewal date.

Opposition: possible.

 

 

INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS

LEGAL BASIS

• Law on Legal Protection of Industrial Designs, in force since November 13, 2017.

 

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, Stockholm Act, since March 1, 1995.
• Hague Agreement, Geneva Act, since March 16, 2016.

 

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney (no legalization but stamped or sealed);
• Photographs and drawings;
• Specification of the design;
• Priority document (if any).

 

REMARKS

Duration – renewals: 5 years from the filing date, renewable for two additional periods of 5 years.

Opposition: possible during the entire term of protection, through the Patent Office Appeal Board.

 

 

DOMAIN NAMES

LEGAL BASIS

• There is no specific legislation on country code top-level domain names.

 

FILING

• ccTLD: .tm
• Applicant: must be a resident/legal entity in the country of Turkmenistan, or a company with an official registered representative in Turkmenistan.
• Local Presence: required.

 

REMARKS

Duration – renewals: 10 years, renewable.

Uniform dispute resolution procedure: none.

 

 

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