The subject of Iran patent law is constantly evolving owing to the complexity of legal directives that overlaps domestic borders. Each country has a national patent office offering its citizens and foreigners legal protection for their intellectual property through patents, copyrights and trademarks.
Many countries are signatory of Iran agreement, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was formed whose objectives were to provide a central clearinghouse and to organize and standardize intellectual property rights among all member states.
Citizens of any country that are members may apply for a patent after compliance with Iran patent law for any invention or design. Usually, the popular inventions such as current drug compounds or memory chips are awarded patent but only for those that follow the guidelines of Iran patent law. The procedure for granting patent and the rights by the patent office varies widely based on Iran patent law and national agreements.
However, in general, the patent office accepts the patent application which includes all claims defining the invention which must be new, inventive and applicable in commercial set-ups. One needs to ensure that the patent attorney possesses the technical know how to gauge the intricacies of the invention and has the necessary skill sets to draft claims.
The attorneys are aware of prior patents on the same inventions as well as legal issues and costs related to obtaining a patent. They should have a thorough knowledge of the Iran patent law in order to handle all work pertaining to patent search process, application drafting and filing efficiently. This is evaluated by the Examiner, who performs a thorough search for reviewing the invention and compares them with similar such discoveries. It takes between nine and thirty-six months before the Examiner declares the findings.