Industrial Designs Registration Act of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Article 20 – For the purpose of this Act, any composition of lines or colors or any three dimensional form, whether or not associated with lines or colors, is deemed to be an Industrial Design, provided that such composition or form gives a special appearance to a product of industry or handicraft. In an Industrial Design, the protection under this Act does not extend to solely achieving a technical result without incorporating changes in the appearance.
Article 21 – An Industrial Design is registrable if it is new and or original. An Industrial Design shall be new if it has not been disclosed to the public, anywhere in the world, by publication in tangible form or by use or in any other way, prior to filing date of the application or, where applicable, the priority date of the application for registration. Provisions of last sentence of Article (4) (e) and (f) shall apply mutatis mutandis to Industrial Designs.
Article 22 – The application for registration of an Industrial Design filed with the Industrial Property Office shall 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. Where the Industrial Design is three-dimensional, the Industrial Property Office may request a real specimen or a Marquette of the same along with the application. The application shall be subject to payment of the prescribed application fee.
The application must contain specifications of the Design and where the applicant is not the creator (designer), a statement justifying the applicant’s right to the registration of the Industrial Design shall accompany the application.
Article 23 – Articles (5), (9), 11(c) and (15) of the present Act shall apply mutatis mutandis for Industrial Designs.
Article 24 – Two or more Industrial Designs may be the included in one single application, provided that they relate to the same class of International Classification or to the same set or composition of articles. 12
Article 25 – At the time of filing the application, it may be requested that the publication of the Industrial Design, upon registration, be deferred for a period not exceeding 12 months from the date of filing, or if priority is claimed, from the date of priority, of the application.
Article 26 – The applicant may withdraw the application at any time while it is under examination.
Article 27 – The examination, registration and publication of the Industrial Design shall be as follows:
The filing date shall be the date on which the application has been submitted to the Industrial Patent Office, provided that, at the time of its submission, the application contains indications allowing the identity of the applicant to be established and required graphic representation of the article that embodies the Industrial Design.
After receiving the application, the Industrial Property Office shall examine the application to determine if it complies with the requirements of Article 22 and whether the said Industrial Design complies with the requirements of Articles 20 and 4(f) and the Regulations pertaining thereto.
Where the Industrial Property Office finds that the conditions referred to in subsection (b) hereof are fulfilled, shall proceed to register the Industrial Design, publish a reference to the registration and shall issue to the applicant a Certificate of Registration of the Industrial Design; otherwise, the said Office shall reject the application.
Where a request has been made under Article 25, upon registration of the Industrial Design, neither the representation of the design nor the contents of the application shall be published. In this case, the Industrial Property Office shall publish a mention of the deferment of the publication of the Industrial Design and information identifying the owner of the registered Design, and indicating the filing date of the application, the length of period for which deferment has been requested and any other prescribed particulars. At the expiry of the requested period of deferment, the Industrial Property Office shall publish the registered Industrial Design. The institution of legal proceedings on the basis of a registered Industrial Design during the period of deferment of publication shall be subject to the condition that the information contained in the Register and the file relating 13 to the application has been communicated, in writing, to the person against whom the action is brought.
Article 28 – Rights conferred by Registration of the Industrial Design, duration and renewal of the same shall be as follows:
The exploitation of a registered Industrial Design in Iran by persons shall require the agreement of the owner thereof.
Exploitation of a registered Industrial Design means making, selling or importation of articles incorporating the said Industrial Design.
The registered owner of an Industrial Design may institute court proceedings against any person who performs any of the acts referred to in the subsection (b) above without his consent, or performs acts which make it likely that future infringement will occur.
The registration of an Industrial Design shall be valid for a period of five years from filing date of the application for registration. This period may be renewed for two further consecutive periods of five years after payment of the prescribed fees. After expiry of each period that starts at the end of the said period, a grace period of six months shall be allowed for the late payment of the renewal fee. A fine for late payment shall also be fixed.
Article 29 – Any interested person may request the court to invalidate the registration of an Industrial Design. For this purpose, the said person requesting the invalidation must prove that any of the requirement of Articles 20 and 21 is not fulfilled or that the registered owner of the Industrial Design is not the creator or his successor in title. Last paragraph of Article 18 shall apply mutatis mutandis.
