LEGAL BASIS

- Patent Law No. 65 of 1970, Iraq Government Gazette No. 1865 of April 6, 1970.
- First amendment, published in the Official Journal on September 6, 1999, under Law No. 28 of 1999.

FILING:

Applicant:
- Iraq subjects and Arab citizens, foreigners residing and having an actual place of business in Iraq, foreigners of countries that treat Iraq on a reciprocal basis, public administrations and companies, societies and establishments which are established in Iraq or in countries that treat Iraq on a reciprocal basis provided that they are juristic persons and also industrialists, manufacturers, merchants or laborers provided that the invention shall be primarily in the name of the inventor. Foreigners and persons residing outside Iraq must appoint an authorized agent.

Novelty:
- An invention is not considered novel (a) if, within fifty years prior to the date of filing an application for a patent, the invention has been worked in or outside Iraq in a public manner or (b) if it has been published in or outside Iraq in such a way that enables experts to exploit it, or (c) if, within fifty years prior to the date of filing the application, a patent for the invention was already issued, wholly or partly, to a person other than the inventor. A foreign patent is not considered as an anteriority if the invention has already been patented.

Priorities:
- Iraq is a member of the Paris Convention, thus priority is considered in applications for patents, but international registrations are not considered as registered in Iraq.

Requirements (to be sent to resident agent for filing an application):

- An attested and officially translated copy of power of attorney (signed in the presence of a notary public and legalized by the Foreign Office and by the Iraqi Consul);
- Six copies of the specification and of the summary of the invention;
- Six copies of drawings;
- An attested copy of the patent if the invention has already been patented in foreign countries.
If the documents mentioned above are in a language other than Arabic, a certified translation must accompany them.

Publication:
- Quarterly summaries of the specifications of all inventions for which patents have been granted during the said period, are published in the Official Gazette. Similarly, a list of all patents which have expired and all patents which have been revoked or cancelled is published in the Official Gazette.

Duration:
- Twenty years from the filing date of the application; or ten years for patents of pharmaceutical and medicinal preparations, extendable twice for five-year periods.
Required documents for such extensions must be completed within six months from the date of the submission of the renewal. The duration of patents which are granted for inventions already patented outside Iraq, is identical to the term of the patents granted abroad, provided that such a term does not exceed twenty years, and that attested copies of such patents be produced. If the documents are not completed within six months of the date on which the application was submitted, then the application will be cancelled, though a fresh application may be filed and the prescribed fee for its registration paid anew.

Annuities:
- Annual fees are levied. The fee is payable on the anniversary of the patent.

Patents of addition:
- Any person may apply for a patent for amending, improving or complementing an invention, provided that one full year has elapsed since the original patent was granted.

Annulment:
- Patents can be cancelled and their rights forfeited under the following circumstances: (1) the expiry of the period of protection, (2) issuing of judgement of revocation, (3) non-payment of due fees at maturity date with unacceptable reasons, (4) revocation of patents in accordance with the provisions of the law. Working - Compulsory licence: if the invention is not exploited in Iraq within three years of the date of granting, or the exploitation is not adequate for the requirement of the country, or is interrupted for a period of at least two years, then the Registrar may grant a compulsory licence. If, within two years from the date of granting the compulsory licence, the invention is not exploited, the Registrar may cancel the compulsory licence but not the patent.