INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN IRAN

Iran’s Patents, Industrial Designs, and Trademarks Registration Act of 2008 and Related Regulations, along with the E-commerce Law of 2003, govern the mechanism of trademark registration.
A trademark application has to be filed before the Trademark Office by a local agent.
It follows a 'first-to-file’ system.
Iran follows the 10th edition of Nice Classification. Multi-class trademark applications are acceptable.
The opposition period is one (01) month from publication date of the trademark application.
A trademark registration in Iran is valid for ten (10) years from the registration date. The registration term is further renewable indefinitely for successive periods of ten (10) years each.
The grace period to renew a trademark after the date of expiry is six (06) months.
If a registered trademark has not been used within three (03) years from registration, it may be subject to cancellation.

Iran is a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
The most important IP law in Iran is the Patents, Industrial Designs, and Trademarks Registration Act, 2008 and its by-law.
The legal authority for registering industrial property rights in Iran is the Intellectual Property Center (IPC).
In Iran, an invention that satisfies the conditions of originality, novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability, subjects to patentability. Process patent and product patent are the two types of patents that can be protected.
The types of patent applications that can be filed include Non-Convention Application and Convention Application.
A patent can be challenged or opposed only at the post-grant stage. No third-party observations can be made as well.
The term of protection for patents is twenty (20) years from the filing date, subject to the payment of annual fees. This regulation was introduced by the Patents, Industrial Designs, and Trademarks Registration Act of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2008). Under the previous legislation, applicants could choose among the terms of five (05), ten (10), fifteen (15), or twenty (20) years from the filing date.
The owner is expected to pay an annual fee due on the patent application date every year for the patent protection time period of twenty (20) years. The annual fee is payable within six (06) months of the respective due date with a 100% penalty fee.

The Patents, Industrial Designs, and Trademarks Registration Act, 2008 -governs and deals with the mechanism of registration of industrial design.
The application for registration of an industrial design filed with the Industrial Property Office needs to be accompanied by drawings, photographs, or other adequate graphic representation of the article embodying the industrial design, and an indication of the kind of products for which the industrial design is to be used.
The types of industrial design applications that can be filed in Iran include Non-Convention Application and Convention Application.
Utility model protection isn't provided under industrial design protection in the nation.
The registration of an industrial design shall be valid for a period of five (05) years from the filing date of the application for registration. This period may be further renewed for two (02) consecutive periods of five (05) years each upon payment of the prescribed fees.
After expiry of each period that starts at the end of the said period, a grace period of six (06) months is allowed for the late payment of the renewal fee, along with a penalty.

Iran is not a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
The Act for Protection of Authors, Composers, and Artists Rights (Copyright Law) - is the basic legislation governing copyright protection in Iran, which might be soon updated.
Moreover, no administrative or registration processes are mandatory for the work or the author of the work to qualify for copyright protection. Although the Act provides the opportunity for authors to register their works or any symbol or mark thereof with the Ministry of Culture, protection has never been subject to such registration.
The period during which the protection is granted differs depending on the type of the right in question. In case of moral rights, which are exclusive to the author, the rights are inalienable and are subject to no territorial or time restrictions. However, when the material rights of an author in his or her protected work are transferred by means of a license agreement, the transferee’s rights and benefits will be protected for a period of thirty (03) years starting from the date of transfer, unless the parties have agreed upon a shorter period. In case the work is commissioned, the owner of the work (i.e., the commissioner) will also benefit for a period of thirty (30) years to begin from the date on which the work was authored. Author’s successors will benefit from these rights for fifty (50) years after the author’s decease.