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What are unbelievable rights existing in Intellectual Property in Iran?
By Petar J
Intellectual Property in Iran and Generally IP law deals with laws to protect the rights of the creators and owners of inventions, writing, music, designs, and other works, known as intellectual property.
Intellectual property in Iran is several areas including copyright, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. Copyright law protects the rights of creators in their works in fine arts, publishing, entertainment, and computer software. The laws protect the owner of the work if others copy, present, or display the owners' work without permission.
Trademark law protects a word, phrase, symbol, or design that is used by an entity to identify its product or service. Examples are Dunkin Donuts orange and pink sausage style lettering, Apple's apple logo, and Adidas three stripes. Trademark owners can prevent others from using their marks, or marks which are confusingly similar so that consumers would not be able to identify the source. Federal and state laws govern trademarks but the Lanham Act is the primary source of trademark protection. These laws protect against infringement and dilution. Rights in trademarks are gained by being the first to use a trademark in commerce or being the first to register the mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
What is Patent in Intellectual Property Laws?
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. It is 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. Read more on the Georgetown University's site.
The Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to notify him of the deposit by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on December 14, 2001, of its instrument of ratification of the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO Convention), signed at Stockholm on July 14, 1967, and as amended on September 28, 1979. According to the official WIPO site, the said Convention entered into force, with respect to the Islamic Republic of Iran, on March 14, 2002.
In past years, the Iranian government has tried to update its national intellectual property (IP) law in order to engage with the international institutions and prepare for membership of the World Trade Organization. Iranian IP rights contain provisions on civil and administrative procedures, remedies, and special requirements related to border measures and criminal procedures, which specify the procedures and remedies that must be available so that rights holders can effectively enforce their rights and feel protected as such on a national and international level.
National regulation in Iran (the Islamic Republic of) has Patent and trademark registration law from July 1931 and Copyright law. Law for the protection of Authors, but there is no national regulation for Design and Industrial models. Internationally, they have signed Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks WIPO Copyright Treaty. According to the site. Referring to the patent system of Iran there is a lot of history. It has a patent office as well as national stricture prescribing and protecting the rights.
In this publication, you can find a short description of the official structure of the Iranian patent office. Also, the procedures for getting an Iranian patent are also described. The status of patenting in Iran is discussed using some recent statistics on the number of the file. It granted Iranian patents to resident and non-resident applicants.
The overall picture of intellectual property rights in Iran
The accessibility of Iranian patent information and the status of the patent professions are reviewed. Finally, the changes that are currently taking place, and which are expected to change the overall picture of intellectual property rights (IPRs), in Iran, are outlined. IP-considerations in Iran's Development Plans has been presented in this respect. It is to show the orientation of the Iranian officials in IPRs policymaking.
If you are a foreign company experiencing or suspecting infringement in Iran, we recommend you ask a local IP lawyer. He/She can watch the market and IP registrations. They will monitor the Official Gazette, oppose the registration of similar trademarks, and make an assessment of a potential infringer's business and registered IP assets. If you are not currently using your trademark in Iran, there is a risk that your competitors may apply for cancellation of the trademark. We highly recommend that you seek legal advice from experienced IP lawyers to find a solution to this issue, conclude Pirouzan Parvine and Sadegh Shamshiri in the article.
Iranian Intellectual Property right system
Iranian IP system shows that there was enormous development in the Iranian IP law, a new patent, industrial design, and trademark law, within the framework of the TRIPS agreement. Iran must meet some prerequisites to facilitate nationally and internationally the protection of IPRs. Also, to prepare the national economy. And industrial sectors for the implementation of the international IP law, especially the TRIPS agreement and for accession to WTO.
Intellectual property in Iran has also seen great development from the point of the enforcement; the government has undertaken great steps in this regard. Under the new Iranian IP system, both the administrative and judicial procedures for enforcement of the IP law developed. The new customs law of Iran, ratified by Parliament in 2011, replaced the custom law of 1971. The new customs law was prepared by the Model Law of the International Customs Organization and in a way to respond to the country's obligations under the TRIPS agreement in the case of WTO membership. Merely having IP laws is not enough—they must be enforced properly.
Enforcement of IPRs
The enforcement of IPRs is covered under conventions of this. These conventions say governments have to ensure that IPRs can be enforced under their laws. Also, the penalties for infringement must deter further violations. The procedures must be fair and equitable, and not unnecessarily complicated or costly. They should not entail unreasonable time-limits or unwarranted delays. Parties involved should be able to petition a court to review an administrative decision or to appeal a lower court's decision. They must be able to take action against infringers to prevent further infringement. Recover the losses incurred from any actual infringement.
Therefore, Iranian policymakers should adopt strategies for promoting the protection of IPRs as well as the management and development of IP assets. These strategies are categorized into 4 main categories (Cowan & Harison, 2001): developing national IPR strategy; formulating and enforcing necessary laws; providing good infrastructures; launching proper education and training programs; awareness building on different aspects of IPRs; promoting maximum use of worldwide patent information.
The country should continue further in the same direction to progress aiming to protect and enforce IP laws. This way Iran will improve towards meeting all the international standards for maximum respect of IP rights in the country. So IP holders will feel safe and motivated to create more in the future.
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