In assisting developing countries primarily in Asia and the Pacific Region to establish and improve their industrial property systems, the Japan Patent Office is fostering and conducting cooperative activities in various fields including human resource development, the digitization of patent application procedures, and the examination of applications.
As part of these cooperative activities, this site provides the texts (both in English and Japanese) of the industrial property laws and regulations in effect in various industrialized and developing countries.
We hope that the governments of developing countries use this site to refer to the legal systems of other countries in order to establish, revise, or contribute to their own industrial property laws. At the same time, we hope that those who apply for the acquisition of industrial property rights in other countries profit from the information contained in this site.
Please note that the translations of the texts and of the other information contained in this site are not official and are not always the latest. Please refer to the original texts of the laws of the countries concerned.
The laws and regulations listed here are unofficial translations of the original-language texts, and therefore are for reference purposes only. As a result, you are kindly advised to refer to the original-language versions when you need to verify or inquire about the content. Furthermore, should there be any discrepancies between the original-language versions and the translations provided here, the original-language versions shall always take precedence.
Those marked with asterisks (*) contain the most updated laws/regulations as of the end of March 2013, according to our survey results.
What's New?
| 3 July. 2013 |
AUSTRALIA (Patents Act (Link to ComLaw), Patents Regulations (Link to ComLaw), Designs Act (Link to ComLaw), Designs Regulations (Link to ComLaw), Trade Marks Act (Link to ComLaw), Trade Marks Regulations (Link to ComLaw)),
BRUNEI (Patents Order, Emergency (Industrial Designs) Order, Industrial Design Rules),
BULGARIA (Industrial Design Law, Trademark Law),
CANADA(Patent Act, Patent Rules, Industrial Design Act, Industrial Design Regulations, Trade-marks Act), Trade-mark Regulations),
DENMARK (Patents Act, Utility Models Act, Utility Models Regulations, Designs Act, Designs Regulations, Trade Marks Act, Trade Marks Regulations),
ESTONIA (Patent Act, Utility Models Act),
ETHIOPIA (TradeMark Registration and Protection Proclamation),
FINLAND (Patents Act, Patents Decree, Utility Model Act, Registered Designs Decree),
GERMANY (Patent Regulations),
HONG KONG (Registered Designs Ordinance),
HUNGARY (Patents Act, Utility Model Act, Industrial Design Act, Trademark Act),
IRELAND (Patents Acts, Patents Rules),
KENYA (The Industrial Property Act, The Trade Marks Act),
LATVIA (Patent Law, Trademark Law),
MEXICO (Industrial Property Regulations),
NEW ZEALAND (Patents Acts, Design Regulations, Trade Marks Act, Trademarks Regulations),
NIGERIA (Patents and Designs Act, Trade Marks Act),
NORWAY (Designs Regulations),
PERU (Industrial Property Decree),
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA (Trade Marks Act),
ROMANIA (Industrial Design Regulations, Trademark Regulations),
SINGAPORE (Patents Act, Patents Rules, Designs Rules, Trade Marks Rules, Trade Marks International Registration Rules),
TUNISIA (Law on Patents, Law on the Protection of Industrial Designs),
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Patent Law, Leahy-Smith Invent Act (Link to USPTO), Trademark Law, Trademark Regulations),
VIETNAM (Decree of Providing for Sanctioning of Administrative Violations),
ANDEAN COMMUNITY (Decision 632, Decision 689),
EURASIAN PATENT OFFICE (Patent Regulations under the Patent Convention),
EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE (Rules Relating to Fees),
LISBON AGREEMENT (Regulations under the Lisbon Agreement). |
| 20 July. 2012 |
EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE (Handbook of quality procedures before the EPO(Link to EPO)) |
| 12 Jun. 2012 |
AUSTRALIA (Patents Regulations, Trade Marks Act, Trade Marks Regulations), BANGLADESH(Patents and Designs Act, Trademarks Act),
BELARUS(Patent Law, Trademarks and Service Marks Law), BHUTAN(The Industrial Property Act, Industrial Property Rules), CHINA(Patents Law(Link to SIPO), Patent Regulations(Link to SIPO), Trademark Law (Link to SAIC), Trademark Regulations(Link to SAIC)), CZECH REPUBLIC(Trademark Regulations),
DENMARK(Utility Models Act, Designs Act), EGYPT(Law on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights), ETHIOPIA(A Proclamation Concerning Inventions, Minor Inventions and Industrial Designs), FINLAND(Registered Designs Act, Trademarks Act), IRELAND(Patents Rules), KAZAKHSTAN(Patent Law, Law on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin), MALAYSIA(Patents Regulations, Trademarks Regulations), MEXICO(Industrial Property Law), MONGOLIA(Law on Patent), NEPAL(The Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act), NEW ZEALAND(Designs Act), NORWAY(Patents Act, Patent Regulations, Designs Act, Designs Regulations, Trade Marks Act, Trade Marks Regulations), PAPUA NEW GUINEA(Trade Marks Act, Trade Marks Regulation), PHILIPPINES(Rules & Regulations on Administrative Complaints), ROMANIA(Trademark Law), RUSSIA(Civil Code of the Russian Federation Part Ⅳ (Link to ROSPATENT)), SLOVAKIA(Trademark Act),UNITED ARAB EMIRATES(Pertaining to the Industrial Regulation and Protection of Patents, Industrial Drawings, and Designs, Law Concerning Trademarks), UNITED KINGDOM(Copyright, Design and Patent Act, Patent Act, Patent Rules), AFRICAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION(OAPI)(Bangui Agreement, Regulations under the Agreement Revising the Bangui Agreement), AFRICAN REGIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION(ARIPO)(Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs, Regulations for Implementing the Harare Protocol, Banjul Protocol on Marks, Regulations for Implementing the Banjul Protocol, ANDEAN COMMUNITY(Decision 486 — Common Provisions on Industrial Property), BENELUX(Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property (Trademarks and Designs), Implementing Regulations under the Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property(Trademarks and Designs)), EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE(Implementing Regulations to the Convention on the grant of European Patents, Rules Relating to Fees), EUROPEAN UNION/EUROPEAN COMMUNITY(Council Regulation on the Community Trade Mark, Commission Regulation on the Community Trade Mark, Council Regulation on a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products, Council Regulation on geographical indications and designations of origin), GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL(GCC Patent Law, Implementing Bylaws of the Amended Patent Regulation of GCC). |
| 13 Sep. 2011 |
EUROPEAN UNION/EUROPEAN COMMUNITY(Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks(Link to EU)) |
| 27 Jun. 2011 |
List of Laws and Regulations are updated. |
| 28 Apr. 2011 |
AUSTRALIA (Patents Act), Cambodia(Patent Law and Trademark Law), DENMARK(Patents Act,Patents Regulations and Trade Marks Act), Hungary(Utility Model Act and Industrial Design Act), Kyrgyzstan(Patent Law), Malaysia(Patents Regulations and Trademarks Regulations), Netherlands(Patent Act), Norway(Trade Marks Regulations), Papua New Guinea(Patent Law and Patent Regulations), Poland(Industrial Design Regulation), Portugal(Industrial Property Code), Romania(Industrial Design Law), Spain(Trademark Act), Sri Lanka(Code of Intellectual Property Act), Ukraine(Trademark Law), United Kingdom(Registered Design Act), United States of America(Manual of Patent Examining Procedures Chapter 600 and Manual of Patent Examining Procedures Chapter 700), Uzbekistan(Trademarks Law) |
| 24 Dec. 2010 |
AUSTRALIA(Patents Act,
Patents Regulations, Designs Act, Trade Marks Act),
Greece(Patent Law),
Hong Kong(Patents Ordinance,
Registered Designs Ordinance,
Trade Marks Ordinance),
Hungary(Patents Act,
Trademark Act),
IRELAND(Patents Acts),
Lithuania(Patent Law,
Industrial Design Law,
Trade Marks Law),
New Zealand(Patents Acts),
Singapore(Designs Act),
Turkey(Industrial Design Regulations),
United Kingdom(Patent Act, Patent Rules),
United States of America(Patent Regulations,
Trademark Law),
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY(Council Regulation on the Community designs,
Commission Regulation on the Community designs) |
| 5 Aug. 2010 |
JAPAN (Cabinet Secretariat Website), Republic of Korea (Link to KIPO), VIETNAM (Intellectual Property Law) |
| 30 Apr. 2010 |
AUSTRALIA(Patents Regulations, Designs Regulations, Trade Marks Regulations)
France(Intellectual Property Code, Intellectual Property Regulations)
Hong Kong(Patents Ordinance)
Malaysia(Patents Act)
Philippines(Intellectual Property Code, Trademarks Rules and Regulations, Rules and Regulations on Inventions, Rules and Regulations on Utility Models and Industrial Designs, Rules & Regulations on Voluntary Licensing, Rules & Regulations on Administrative Complaints, Rules on Dispute Settlement, Regulations on Inter Parts Proceedings)
Poland(Industrial Property Law, Patent Regulations, Trademark Regulations)
Romania(Patent Law, Patent Regulations, Utility Models Law)
Singapore(Designs Rules, Trade Marks Act, Trade Marks Rules,)
European Patent Office(Guidelines for Examination List of Contents, Guidelines for Examination General Part, Guidelines for Examination/Part A,Guidelines for Examination/Part B,Guidelines for Examination/Part C,Guidelines for Examination/Part D,Guidelines for Examination/Part E) |
| 1 Apr. 2010 |
Germany(Patent Act) |
| 4 Mar. 2010 |
Singapore(Trade Marks International Registration Rules) |
| 15 Jan. 2010 |
Germany(Patent Act) |
| 25 Dec. 2009 |
United Kingdom(Trade Marks Act, Trademarks Rules),
Norway(Patents Act,
Patents Regulations),
Hungary(Patent Act,
Trademark Act),
Finland(Patents Act, Patents Decree),
BULGARIA(Industrial Design Law, Trademark Law, Trademark Regulations),
Latvia(Patent Law),
CANADA(Industrial Design Regulations, Trade-marks Act),
Sri Lanka(Intellectual Property Regulations),
India(Designs Rules),
European Patent Office(Implementing Regulations to the Convention on the grant of European Patents),
Eurasian Patent Office(Patent Regulations under the Patent Convention) |
| 16 Oct. 2009 |
Chinese Taipei (Patent Regulations, Trademark Regulations),
Vietnam
(Decree of Industrial Property,
Decree of IPR Protection and Management,
Decree of Providing for Sanctioning of Administrative Violations,)
Lao PDR
(Intellectual Property Laws,
Decree of Prime Minister on Trademarks) |
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