The contracting states, while retaining full sovereignty in the development of their national systems for the protection of inventions, hereby establish the Eurasian Patent System. Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as limiting the rights under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of any national or resident of a country party to the Paris Convention. To carry out administrative tasks related to the functioning of the Eurasian patent system and the issuance of Eurasian patents, the Eurasian Patent Organization is established. All Contracting States are members of the Organization. The bodies of the Organization are the Administrative Council and the Eurasian Patent Office. The Organization is an intergovernmental organization with the status of a legal entity. The Organization has legal capacity in each Contracting State, which is recognized for legal entities in accordance with the national legislation of that State. The official language of the Organization is Russian. The Eurasian Office performs all administrative functions of the Organization. It is the secretariat of the Organization. The Eurasian Office issues a Eurasian patent for an invention that is new, has an inventive step and is industrially applicable. The right to a Eurasian patent belongs to the inventor or his successor. Moreover, if the inventor is an employee, then the right to a Eurasian patent is determined in accordance with the legislation of the state in which the employee has his main place of service. If the State in which the employee has his principal place of duty cannot be determined, the law of the State in which the employer carries on entrepreneurial activity with which the employee is associated shall apply. For the purposes of the procedure before the Eurasian Office, the applicant is considered entitled to a Eurasian patent. The owner of a Eurasian patent has the exclusive right to use, as well as to authorize or prohibit others from using the patented invention. The validity period of a Eurasian patent is 20 years from the filing date of the Eurasian application. Fees are paid annually to maintain the validity of a Eurasian patent. To continue the validity of a Eurasian patent in each Contracting State, the patent owner must indicate the name of each Contracting State in which he wishes to continue the validity of the patent. This Convention does not affect the right of any Contracting State to grant national patents. No reservations may be made to this Convention. The Director General of WIPO shall be the depositary of this Convention.
1994-09-09