Intellectual Property Law in Azerbaijan

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Intellectual Property Law in Azerbaijan

Intellectual Property law legislation protects and enforces rights of creators and owners of inventions, writings, songs, designs and other works, known as “intellectual property” (IP). There are several areas of intellectual property, including copyright, trademarks, patents and trade secrets.

The main Laws regulating IP in Azerbaijan are:

  1. Law on the trademarks and Geographical Signs;
  2. Law on Copyright and Related Rights;
  3. Law on Patents;
  4. Law on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights and Fight against Piracy;
  5. Law on Legal Protection of Topographies of Integrated Circuits;
  6. Law on Legal Protection of Compilations of Data

ALC ensures that your intellectual property rights are protected, offering services to register trademarks and patents, resolve IP disputes and provide further IP consultancy in Azerbaijan.

Copyright law protects the rights of creators in their works in fine arts, publishing, entertainment, and computer software. The law protects the owner of the work if others copy, present, or display his/her work without permission.

Trademark law – protects a word, phrase, symbol or design that is used by an entity to identify its product or service.

Trademark registration in Azerbaijan usually takes about 6-9 months, with strict expertise by the Center for Expertise of Patents and Trademarks of the Azerbaijan Intellectual Property Agency.

Patent law – grants protection for new inventions which can be products, processes or designs and provides a mechanism for protection of the invention. The patent law promotes the sharing of new developments with others to foster innovation. The patent owner has the right to protect others from producing, using, distributing or importing the protected item. Essentially, the patent is a property right that can be licensed, sold, mortgaged or assigned.

Trade secrets are business practices, formulas, designs or processes used in a business, designed specifically to provide a competitive advantage to a business. These trade secrets would not be otherwise known to an “outsider” of the business. An example of this is the formula for Coca Cola. Trade secrets are protected without registration and appropriate steps should be taken by the owner to maintain confidentiality.

WHAT DO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWYERS DO?

The three broadest segments of an intellectual property practice are counseling, protecting and enforcing. Client counseling centers around how best to protect the intellectual property that the client has or would like to develop. In trademark law, the lawyer will conduct searches on trademarks proposed by the client and counsel the client with respect to availability. In cases where a client has already invested time, energy and money, and a prior use in a similar industry is found, discussions with a client might include modifying or even abandoning the client’s mark. In the case of patent counseling, the lawyer must have a technical background in order to best understand the client’s patent and to assess its validity or likelihood of patent infringement.

Protection of intellectual property involves registering the trademark, patent or copyright to obtain the greatest rights available for the client’s asset. In the case of a trademark or patent, the process involves preparing and filing an application with the Azerbaijan Intellectual Property Agency (AIPA) and responding to actions issues by the AIPA until the trademark is registered or patent issues.

Finally, enforcement of intellectual property involves protecting the owner of the intellectual property against infringing uses. This can lead to litigation in court.

Other components of practice may include licensing, due diligence in connection with mergers or acquisitions, and developing strategies for international and domestic intellectual property protection, Skills that are helpful for lawyers in the IP area are communication skills-both written and oral, negotiation skills, and business acumen. Intellectual property law frequently has domestic and international considerations.

Trademark registration processes are as follows:

Foreign legal entities and physical persons must be represented by one of the registered trademark attorneys in Azerbaijan. Local companies and individuals may freely apply for TM registration.

  1. An application, with the bearing of the claimed trade-mark, including details of the applicant must be submitted to Azerbaijan Intellectual Property Agency;
  2. Power of attorney of the representative or patent attorney must be attached to the application form;
  3. Inspection of TM by Center for Expertise of Patents and Trademarks and final decision;
  4. Payment and Certification process.

TM is valid for 10 years from the date of registration and further renewal options.

We ensure that the intellectual property rights of the companies are registered in the Republic of Azerbaijan. We mainly focus on providing you with the following services:

  • Proper documentation for protection of patents, trademarks, and copyrights;
  • Patent and trademark registration and appeals/objections to the registered patent and trademarks;
  • Trademark search before a formal application for registration;
  • Legal audit to ensure that IP rights of other owners are not breached;
  • Formulation and analysis of contracts related to IP protection;
  • Trademark acquisition agreements;
  • Trademark license agreements;
  • IP litigation;
  • Objection to refusal in patent and trademark registration;