REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

The national patent office of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazpatent) was established according to the Presidential Decree of June of 1992 in order to organize the activity of the national patent system that aims at supporting the Republic's inventors, as well as preserving and protecting the nation's creative potential. The core of the national patent system was formed by the Patent Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan that was passed in 1992 (the Republic of Kazakhstan was one of the first among the CIS countries that adopted such a law), and the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellation of Origin", adopted in January of 1993. Several normative documents governing the procedures of compiling, filing, and processing patent applications and certificates for industrial property objects and their subsequent use have been prepared and adopted as an elaboration and refinement to these laws.

The results of practical application of the above normative and legal acts allow one to say that the legislative base for regulating property relations, as well as related personal non-property relations resulting from the creation, legal protection and the use of industrial property in Kazakhstan, has been established and is successfully working.

Certain corrections and changes, however, had to be made, and these were taken into account in the development of new normative and legal acts. One may say, on the whole, that in July and August of 1999 the legislative part of the system of intellectual property protection in Kazakhstan has undergone significant changes. The Special Section of the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which is the foundation of the entire legal system in that area, with one of its sections fully dedicated to intellectual property protection, has been adopted. In full agreement with the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan the following Acts have been adopted: the Patent Law, the Law " On Trademarks, Service Marks, and Appellation of Origin", and the Law "On the Protection of Selection Achievements". The main principles and provisions of the older laws were kept, as having proven their effectiveness, in the new legal acts thus adopted, but several provisions were amended in order to conform with the requirements of international agreements in the area of industrial property protection; also, in view of the practical application of laws, changes and amendments were introduced with the aim of further improving the system of legal protection of industrial property. The preparation of the draft Law "On Legal Protection of the Topographies of Integrated Circuits" effectively completes the series of legal acts in the area of industrial property protection.

According to national legislation, the application (registration) and examination system of granting patents is used in Kazakhstan, which means that two types of titles of protection may be issued for inventions or industrial designs: first, under the application system, a provisional patent is granted; then, if the applicant wishes to extend the protection of industrial property objects, he petitions for a substantive examination, which results, in case of a positive decision, in the granting of a patent. The volume and type of rights availed by these protective documents is traditional and uniform: they certify the priority and authorship of specific persons, as well as the exclusive right of the owner of the protected entity to use it.

The provisional patent, valid for 5 years, is issued after the so-called formal examination, the goals of which are to verify the presence of the required documents and adherence to the requirements for the compilation of the application, and also to classify the entity as patentable. According to the new Patent Law the patent owner has the right to extend the validity of the patent for the invention, but for no more than 3 years. Provisional patents for industrial designs are issued for 5 years without the right of extension.

The use of provisional patents allows obtaining industrial property protection faster and at a lower cost, and enables the owner to use it in the production process, for license or mortgage agreements, etc. It needs to be noted, however, that the owner of a provisional patent will be held responsible if the protected industrial property object does not meet the patentability criteria stipulated by law.

The patent is issued after a substantive examination, which includes the verification that the object being patented meets the patentability criteria: i.e. it is new, involves an inventive step, is original, and industrially applicable. Provided the patented object does meet these criteria, a patent is granted that is valid for 20 years for inventions, 5 years for utility models, and 10 years for industrial designs, counted from the date of the filing of the application with Kazpatent. The terms of validity of patents can be extended, but by no more than five years for inventions, three years for utility models, and five years for industrial designs.

After the disintegration of the USSR the adoption of such a system was the only available option for Kazakhstan. Initially received with a certain measure of skepticism by other countries' experts, this system was accepted in Kazakhstan and has proven itself viable and efficient. Furthermore, several countries, having carefully studied our experience, have adopted or intend to adopt most features of our patent system.

The course of profound economic reforms, pursued by the Republic's government, plus the fact that our national patent legislation systems meet modern global requirements, are among factors that make Kazakhstan attractive for domestic applicants as well as those from "far" or "near" abroad. As of January of 2000, Kazpatent has received 14400 applications for invention, utility model and industrial designs, and 41400 applications for the registrations of trademarks. 18450 protected industrial property objects were entered into the State Registers, of which 8420 were inventions and utility models and 10030 were trademarks and industrial designs. 17050 titles of protection were issued, of which 8420 were for inventions and utility models and 8630 trademarks and industrial designs.

The official monthly patent bulletin of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Industrial Property" has been published since 1993 in the Kazakh and Russian languages; 60 bulletins had come out as of January 1, 2000. Kazpatent is engaged in the exchange of patent publications with 42 countries. All of Kazpatent publications are available on paper and electronic media. In particular, the creation of the database of full descriptions of inventions and utility models of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the 1995-1998 period on optical disks has been completed, and the disk with full invention descriptions for 1993-1994 is nearly compiled and ready for recording.

The management and senior experts of Kazpatent are actively participating in explaining and promoting the current patent legislation by visiting industrial enterprises, research and learning establishments of the Republic, and by addressing the interested public though all types of mass media. Kazpatent and the Republican Scientific and Technical Library (RSTL) have an agreement according to which they carry out mutually beneficial collaboration. Kazpatent fully supplies the Republican Patent Fund of the RSTL and of the regional scientific and technical libraries with all of its publications and trains senior library experts, enabling them to provide quality patent information services to the population in all regional and industrial centers of the Republic.

The system of patent attorneys has been established to represent the interests of foreign applicants who apply for titles of protection for industrial property in Kazakhstan. Five of them have been registered as Eurasian patent attorneys. In 1999 "Association of Patent Attorneys of the Republic of Kazakhstan" was established as a public organization; its Charter defines its main aims, objectives, and the rights and responsibilities of the Association.

Of significant importance to the Republic in the formation of the national patent system and the integration of Kazakhstan into the global patent system is the Republic's participation in WIPO and several major international conventions and agreements. Kazpatent is authorized to represent the Republic in these conventions and agreements, which constitutes an important aspect of international collaboration for Kazpatent.

Another important area of international collaboration of Kazpatent became its participation, as a member of the Interstate Council on the Protection of Industrial Property, in the development and creation of the concept of the regional system of legal protection of inventions, which eventually lead to the establishment of the Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC). In that regard 1995 became the landmark year for the Republic of Kazakhstan: on July 18 President of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev signed a Decree on the ratification of the Eurasian Patent Convention. Presently the Eurasian Patent Organization ("the Organization") and the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO), established in accordance with the EAPC provisions, are successfully working on implementing EAPC's goals.

The Eurasian Patent Convention has resulted in a single patent territory in the former USSR, which removed all barriers on the way of transfer of advanced technology and patent or technical information, and its ratification represents one more step in the direction of integration of the CIS countries.

The unanimous election, in 1995, of the Chairman of the National Patent Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan T.E. Kaudyrov, to the post of the first Chairman of the Administrative Council - the highest body of the Eurasian Patent Organization - at the First ordinary meeting of the Organization's Administrative Council indicates the recognition of Kazpatent's authority and of its contribution towards the creation of the Eurasian Patent Organization within the EAPC framework. The decision of the Administrative Council to hold its Second Ordinary meeting in the city of Almaty was thus entirely expected.

During the time since the creation of EAPC, certain experience of collaboration between EAPO and Kazpatent has been accumulated. Representatives of Kazpatent actively participate in all meetings and events held by the Organization and EAPO.

At the same time the establishment of the Eurasian Patent System encourages Kazpatent to focus its attention on devising a new strategy of developing the national patent system, given the Republic's participation in EAPC. Kazakhstan firmly holds the third place among the CIS countries in the number of Eurasian applications filed; yet, we are concerned about their low proportion among the total number of applications from the Contracting states (6%), which does not do justice to the technical potential of the Republic. This low number may be a reflection of financial, economic, or technical problems of our applicants.

Nevertheless, the analysis of the statistics of applications filed with EAPO during the 1996-1999 period shows an upward trend in the number of applications with every passing year; this growth will contribute to EAPO's eventual success and the success of regional offices. The contacts between Kazpatent and EAPO expand with each passing year, and we are confident that our further cooperation will prove fruitful.