FAQ

Patented inventions have, in fact, pervaded every aspect of human life, from electric lighting (patents held by Edison and Swan) and plastic (patents held by Baekeland), to ballpoint pens (patents held by Biro), and microprocessors (patents held by Intel, for example).

All patent owners are obligated to disclose information about their inventions to the public in order to enrich the body of technical knowledge in the world in exchange for patent protection. This ever-growing body of general knowledge encourages further creativity and innovation in other areas. Thus, patents do not only provide protection to the patent owner but also provide valuable information and inspire future generations of researchers and inventors.

The Egyptian Patent Office grants patents in Egypt.

The patent is granted to any natural or legal person, Egyptian or foreigner, who belongs to or takes a real and effective center of activity in one of the countries or entities that are members of the World Trade Organization or that treat the Arab Republic of Egypt reciprocally.

A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. In other words, patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported, or sold by others without the patent owner’s consent.

The patent owner has the right to decide who may or may not use the invention covered by the patent during the term of protection for the invention. The patent owner may authorize or license others to use the invention according to agreed terms. The owner of the patent may also sell his right to the invention to another person, who thus becomes the new owner of the patent. When the patent period expires, the protection ends and the invention falls into the public domain. This means that the patent owner will no longer have the exclusive rights to the invention that becomes available to third parties for commercial exploitation.

Patents shall be granted for everything that fulfills the patent conditions, whether the invention is related to products or industrial methods in any field of technology.

Patents shall not be granted for any invention that would prejudice national security, disturb public order or public morals, or seriously harm the environment or the life or health of humans, animals or plants. Discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, programs and schemes are also excluded from protection by the patent system, as well as methods of diagnosis, treatment and surgery for humans and animals, plants and animals, regardless of their degree of rarity and exoticism, as well as methods that are essentially biological for the production of plants or animals, organs, tissues, living cells, natural biological materials, nucleic acid and genome.

It is generally necessary that the invention fulfill the following conditions for obtaining a patent:

First: The subject matter of the invention must be patentable by law. That is, it is not one of the inventions excluded from protection under Law 82/2002.

Second, it must satisfy the element of “novelty,” it must add something new that did not exist before i.e. some new, unknown characteristic in the body of knowledge available in its technical field. This body of knowledge is called “prior art.”

Third, it must involve an inventive step so that it is “non-intuitive” and not obvious to anyone with average technical knowledge to conclude.

Fourth: The invention must be industrially applicable, that is, it can be used for an industrial or practical purpose, or in other words, it should be “useful.”

Fifth: The invention must be disclosed in the patent application sufficiently so that a person with ordinary skill in the field can apply it.

There is no such thing as a “global patent” that is valid in all countries of the world, but you can file an international patent application under the PCT. Any resident or citizen of a state that is a member of this agreement can file a national application and then within twelve months he can submit an international application, and an international application can be submitted directly without the need to file a national application. Within sixteen months, the applicant will receive an international search and examination report that will guide him before starting the national phase. Eighteen months later, the application is published, and within thirty months, the applicant chooses the countries in which he wishes to submit his application in the national phase.

The application shall be examined in each country separately in accordance with its national law, that is, the application can be accepted in one country and rejected in another.

It often happens that several people are simultaneously working on one or more solutions to a particular technical problem. However, only one of them can obtain a patent for the same invention, and most countries apply the so-called first applicant system, granting the patent to the first person to file an application. The principle of priority is very useful when the goal is to obtain patent protection for the same invention in several countries, because the applicant does not have to file an application in all the target countries at the same time. The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property provides that an applicant who has filed his application in one of the countries party to the Convention can claim the priority of that application within a period of twelve months, and the date of filing that first application is considered the “priority date”. If the applicant requests protection in other member countries (in the Paris Convention) during the twelve months mentioned, the date of filing that first application shall have “priority” over all other applications filed after that date. In that case, the applicant remains the first applicant in the other member countries even if other applications are filed before the date of filing his application in those countries.

The priority right is very useful when the goal is to obtain patent protection for the same invention in several countries, because the applicant does not have to file an application in all the target countries at the same time. The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property provides that an applicant who has filed his application in one of the countries party to the Convention can claim the priority of that application within a period of twelve months, and the date of filing that first application is considered the “priority date”. If the applicant requests protection in other member countries (in the Paris Convention) during the twelve months mentioned, the date of filing that first application shall have “priority” over all other applications filed after that date. In that case, the applicant remains the first applicant in the other member countries even if other applications are filed before the date of filing his application in those countries.

The first stage of the patenting procedure includes the filing of a patent application. The website of the Egyptian Patent Office provides all the required forms when filing an application.

In general, the application includes the name of the invention and an abstract of the technical field in general. It is essential that the application include the background of the invention and a description of it in clear language and in sufficient detail for any person with intermediate knowledge in the field of use and implementation of the invention. These descriptions are usually accompanied by visual material such as drawings, designs or diagrams to better describe the invention. The application includes several “elements of protection” as well, that is, information that defines the scope of protection granted by a patent.

According to the Egyptian Intellectual Property Rights Protection Law No. 82/2002, the period of protection under a patent is twenty years calculated from the date of submitting the application, and after the end of the protection period, the application falls into the public domain, and there is no extension of the protection period for other periods.

The time it takes to obtain a patent depends on the registration procedures and a number of other factors, and since the Egyptian Patent Office conducts an objective examination of patent applications, the process of obtaining a patent may take a period of not less than 12 months, and may reach several years according to practical requirements of examination.

A patent shall be granted in return for a full disclosure of the invention that is published and thus becomes available to the public. However, publication may begin at different stages of the procedure. Some countries only publish patent documents with elements and descriptions of the invention when the patent is granted. Others publish patent applications generally 18 months after the filing date or priority date if claimed.

Full and clear disclosure of the application is important, as the technical information mentioned in the patent application represents an important source of information for everyone to benefit from, and after the end of the protection period, others can benefit from this information and implement the invention without referring to the patent owner.

Article 13 of the Egyptian Intellectual Property Rights Protection Law No. 82/2002 states that a detailed description of the invention is attached to the patent application, including a full description of its subject matter and the best method that enables experts to implement it. This is for each of the products and methods in question. The description must include in a clear manner the new elements that the person concerned seeks protection for, and an engineering drawing of the invention should be attached to the application when necessary. If the application is related to an invention that includes biological plant or animal materials, traditional medical, agricultural, industrial or handicraft knowledge, or cultural or environmental heritage, the inventor must have obtained their source in a legitimate manner.

It is not allowed to disclose the details of the invention in any way before the date of filing the patent application, because this will lose it one of the conditions of the patent, which is the condition of novelty. Despite that, there is an exception for the national and international exhibition, as stipulated in Article 3 of the Egyptian Intellectual Property Rights Protection Law No. 82/2002, which states that “disclosure of the invention in national or international exhibitions during the six months preceding the submission of the patent application is not considered disclosure.” That is, the invention can be disclosed in international or national exhibitions only during the six months prior to submitting the patent application, provided that That the person concerned submits a temporary protection application at the Egyptian Patent Office before the date of the exhibition, and this application must be supported by a brief statement of the description of the invention and the drawing boards. The office may ask the invention owner to provide any data or clarifications if it finds it necessary to identify the elements of protection for the invention or its purpose.

Note: This exception does not include conferences, seminars, or any means of disclosing the invention, but it is limited to exhibitions only.

It is important to file a patent application before revealing to the public the details of the invention. In general, any disclosure of the invention to the public before filing the patent application is within the previous art, that is, it loses the patent application as a condition of novelty, which prevents the applicant from obtaining the patent. If it is necessary to disclose the invention before filing the application to an investor, there must be an agreement of confidentiality or non-disclosure.

If an employee creates an invention during the execution of an employment contract, that is, during his working hours in the institution, the laws of most countries stipulate that the invention (and related patent rights) are transferred to the institution. In order to avoid any potential confusion or conflict, it is the practice of employers to include intellectual property clauses in employment contracts. However, the employee may have the right to a fair remuneration, as the case may be, in accordance with the law or his work contract.

If you do not obtain a patent for any reason, the application will fall into the public domain, meaning that others have the right to exploit it in any way without referring to you.

In this case, the inventor can file his invention in the form of a utility model, and the patent is granted under the utility model for innovations in ordinary areas of daily and current use that do not require in their innovation and invention a high degree of technological knowledge and have great practical benefit in daily life.

Utility models must include a new innovation like a patent, but it relates to areas of less importance in terms of their fields of use than those for which a patent is granted, and the term of protection under utility models is only 7 years starting from the date of submitting the application.

It is a patent granted for every new technical addition in the construction or formation of means, tools, numbers or parts thereof, products, preparations or production methods whenever presented or otherwise used in current use to solve a specific problem with it, provided that this addition enjoys the conditions of novelty and industrial applicability, but it The condition of the creative step is not blurred, so the inventor of a new addition that led to the functional development of any of the products, tools and methods can add a new addition that led to a functional development of any of the aforementioned products, tools and methods, but it is a non-creative addition or a very simple degree of creativity, which can be innocently. A utility model protects its invention for a limited period during which it enjoys the same rights as the patent owner without detracting from them.

• Having exclusive rights such as those granted to patent holders.
• The terms of a utility model patent are simpler than the granting a patent.
• Utility model applications are examined faster than patent applications.
• Examination of utility model applications is less expensive than patent application.
• The annual fee for a utility model application is lower than that of a patent application.