A new electronic information exchange system for national patent applications has been established between the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) and the National Center for Patents and Information of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. This system, known as EAPO-ONLINE, allows for the submission of patent applications and enables EAPO examiners to conduct information searches and generate patentability reports.

On July 11, 2024, during the EAPO Administrative Council’s jubilee session in Geneva, the agreement for this collaboration was signed. Under this agreement, Tajikistan’s national patent office has already submitted its first eight national applications through the EAPO-ONLINE system. These submissions represent the initial use of this electronic exchange platform for patent examination.

The EAPO will evaluate these applications in accordance with the high standards of the international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system. This service, provided at no cost, aims to improve the quality of the national office’s decisions on applications in technologically complex fields.

The EAPO has previously launched similar initiatives with the national patent offices of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. This new project is part of EAPO’s broader effort to create a unified information and examination framework for industrial property across the Eurasian region.

If you have any inquiries regarding intellectual property matters, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Oleg OVCHARENKO, S&O IP Eurasia, CIS Director