Iran becomes new member of PCT

July – August 2013

Iran deposited its instrument of ratification on 4 July 2013 and will be bound by the PCT from 4 October 2013. Accordingly, this entitles Iran to be automatically designated for any international patent applications filed on or after 4 October 2013. As Iran will be subject to Chapter II of PCT, it will also be automatically designated in any demand for international preliminary examination which has been filed by an Applicant from 4 October 2013 onwards. The nationals and residents of Iran will also be allowed to file international applications from 4 October 2013.

Iran has now become the 148th contracting state of the PCT and the 13th country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to accede to the PCT. Other countries in the region include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and the UAE.

Iran has been a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property since 1998. Iran is also signatory to various WIPO treaties related to intellectual property rights such as the Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol for Trademarks, Locarno Agreement for International Classification of Industrial Designs, Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration  and the Strasbourg Agreement concerning the International Patent Classification.