Doing Business in Azerbaijan 2009 - Azerbaijan Export ...

utility models, trademarks, and geographic names); and copyright
and related rights. Current legislation pertaining to intellectual
property includes the Law On Copyrights and Related Rights (the
Copyright Law), the Law On Trademarks and Geographic Names,
the Law On Patents, and the Law On Topology of Integral Schemes.
Under existing legislation, the Cabinet of Ministers is empowered
to authorize various state agencies to register and protect
intellectual property rights in respective areas. The State Agency
for Standardization, Metrology and Patents is responsible for the
issuance of patents and trademark registration. There is also the
State Copyright Agency which is responsible for the registration of
the copyrights. Beyond this however, procedures for the
registration and protection of various intellectual property rights
differ from one state agency to another.
Azerbaijan is a party to several international agreements
concerning the protection of intellectual property including: the
Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property
Organization; the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial
Property, the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International
Registration of Trade Marks, the Madrid Protocol, the Patent
Cooperation Treaty, and the Eurasian Patent Convention, the
Performances and Phonograms Treaty of the World Intellectual
Property Organization Copyright Treaty of the World Intellectual
Property Organization.
Azerbaijan is a “first to file” and not a “first to use” jurisdiction,
meaning early registration of intellectual property rights is
essential to ensure protection. Patent protection is granted to an
invention if it is novel, inventive and useful. The maximum duration
of protection for an invention patent is 20 years.
BUSINESS CLIMATE
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