Design Law in Iraq

Process of design registration:

1. The convention priority to be claimed in Iraq is 6 months from the home application.
2. The application is examined in terms of form completing all supporting documents with the patent office.
3. The novelty is must for filing a design application in Iraq.
4. Once an application is accepted, the application will be passed for publication after payment the prescribed acceptance and publication fees
5. Acceptance will be published in the local newspaper for third parties’ opposition within 30 days.
6. In the absence of oppositions within 30 days from the date of the publication, the certificate of registration will be issued after payment the prescribed registration fees then the registration certificate will be issued.
7. Design Renewal are based upon the Grant Date of the design application.
8. The base dates of renewal fee deadline are the same with the standards to calculate the Protection period of designs. The protection period is 10 years calculated from the grant date.

Required Documents:

1. A combined Power of Attorney and Boycott Declaration; duly legalized up to the Iraqi Consulate.
2. A Deed of Assignment from the designer(s); duly legalized up to the Iraqi Consulate (as long as the designer(s) is/are not the same of the applicant)
3. A certified copy of the priority document, in case of claiming priority.
4. A brief description of the design, pointing out the novel aspect thereof.
5. Three representations of the design.
6. A miniature sample of the design.
7. Filing Particulars of Applicants / designers, their Addresses & Nationalities.
8. The supporting documents MUST be filed within 3 months from the filing date.
9. The design registration is valid for 10 years from the grant Date, and this period cannot be renewed.
10. The novelty is required for filing a design application in Iraq.
11. Kindly note that all the documents submitted to the Iraqi Patent & Design Office must be in English language, or a verified English translation, if otherwise, together with the Arabic translation thereof.
12. Please be advised that the Power of Attorney OR any other official document should be super legalized in Iraq form The Central Bank, the General Tax Commission and The Ministry of External Affairs. This procedure usually takes from two to four months to be completed.
13. According to the Minister of Planning instructions mentioned in the Central Agency for Standardization and Quality Control No. 7889 of 04 September 2011, it is absolutely necessary to submit the combined Power of Attorney & Boycott Declaration (with all eight questions answered by “NO”) for any design application intended to be filed in Iraq; if some of the questions in the Boycott Declaration have been answered “Yes”, the said Declaration will not be accepted by the Iraqi Patent office and it will not be possible to proceed further with the said application. For questions which are NOT yes/no questions in the Boycott Declaration, it is possible to write the answers on a separate sheet and obtain legalization along with Boycott Declaration.
14. The approximate time frame for obtaining the design registration certificate is 24-36 months, in the normal course of events.
15. It should be noted that legalized Power of Attorney and legalized Extract from the Commercial Register or Articles of Incorporation will be sufficient for filing any number of design applications for the same applicant.

Time Frame:

The approximate time frame for obtaining the design registration certificate is 24-36 months, in the normal course of events.