LEGAL BASIS

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

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, since March 1, 1995, with effect as of December 25, 1991.
• 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, claims and abstract (if not available in Russian, preferably in English);
• 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.

LEGAL BASIS

• Law on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellation of Origin of November 15, 2008.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, since March 1, 1995, with effect as of December 25, 1991.
• 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 after the registration (or last use) 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.

LEGAL BASIS

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

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, since March 1, 1995, with effect as of December 25, 1991.
• Hague Agreement, Geneva Act, as of March 16, 2016.

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney (no legalization but stamped or sealed);
• Photographs and drawings;
• Specification of the design (if not in Russian, preferably in English);
• 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.

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 n Turkmenistan.
• Local Presence: required.

REMARKS

Duration – renewals: 10 years, renewable.
Uniform dispute resolution procedure: none.