Tips on patents

If a company or a physical person authors a previously inexistent technical invention, they have the right to request an exclusivity of use and a protection for their creation. No invention is indeed safe from theft or from different types of counterfeiting. Filing a patent allows its owner to possess exclusive rights to his invention for a determined period of time.

What is a patent? | How are patents protected in Tunisia? | How to register a patent internationally | What to check before you start? |

What is a patent?

A legal protection tool

A patent is an exclusive right granted by the State for a limited period of time and concerning a novel invention which involves an inventive step and is capable of industrial application. Filing a patent allows its author to have an exclusive right to his or her invention. Whether an individual or a legal entity, the inventor is the only one to decide on the use of his invention or indeed on his own exclusive use it. He is entitled to authorize or prohibit the use of his invention.

A trade weapon

A patent is a strategic weapon allowing a company to strengthen its market position, especially in innovative sectors, to capitalize on its invention by limiting its use by other parties, to benefit from the sources of income represented by the sale of use licences and to defend itself against the competition from similar inventions or from counterfeiting.

How are patents protected in Tunisia?

Current legislation

Patents are protected in Tunisia for a period of 20 years, starting from the date of filing, under Law No. 2000-84 on patents.

Registration procedures

A patent application can be filed by any individual or legal entity, independently of their nationality and place of residence. Applicants residing in Tunisia must file directly with the National Institute for Standardization and Industrial Property (INNORPI) or use a representative. Non-residents must be represented by an agent residing in Tunisia and in possession of a valid authorization of the applicant. In all cases, the following documents are required:

• A request stating the title of the invention, the first and last name of the applicant, his address, the first and last name of the inventor and, where appropriate, the first and last name and the address of the representative;
• Two copies of the invention description which shall be clear and complete enough to be carried out by a person skilled in the considered technological field;
• Two copies of one or several claims, specifying the elements of novelty of the invention in question. These claims must be based on the description and must specify the extent of the protection sought through the patent;
• Two copies of one or several drawings, in case they are necessary for an understanding of the description;
• A descriptive summary briefly stating the fundamental technical elements of the invention;
• A power of attorney if need be (without authentication);
• The payment of the required application fees;
• If applicable, an indication claiming the priority right attached to a previous filing abroad.

How to register a patent internationally?

Your needs

Patent is a territorial right and only grants you rights in the country where it has been filed. However, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed on March 20, 1883 in Paris, established a union between the contracting states, based on which the nationals of any contracting state enjoy the same rights in the matter of industrial property as those of others states party to the Convention. The list of the contracting member countries is available on the WIPO website.

There are several methods of filing a patent in a foreign country. Firstly, it is useful to decide in how many countries should your patent be filed. Based on this, you will choose the most appropriate method.

Filing locally

It is preferable that you file at the national intellectual property office of your target country. The World Intellectual Property Organization offers a directory of local intellectual property offices from all over the world. However, this solution is only possible for a very limited number of countries, since it represents significant financial cost and requires numerous administrative procedures, as well as a translation of the patent into each of the national languages.

Regional filing

You wish to file your patent in several countries belonging to the same regional intellectual property organization. Filing with a regional office is a simpler alternative to the previous one. The application must only be filed once, in a limited number of languages and it is valid either for all the member countries of this organization, or only for some of them, depending on your needs. However, the targeted states must validate your request in order for it to become effective. The WIPO offers a directory of regional intellectual property offices. All information needed for the filing of patents is available on the websites of these regional offices.

International filing

The targeted countries are numerous are spread out throughout the whole world. In this case, you have the possibility to use an international procedure, which can lead to the filing of several national or international patents. This procedure is based on the Patent Cooperation Treaty and concerns the countries party to it.

The application must be filed in a single language at the intellectual property office of your own country, which will then transmit it to the WIPO.

The registration at the national level is completed upon the filing of translations of the patent application in each of the chosen countries’ national language, by the payment of the required fees and by the appointment of a local representative.

For more information on filing a patent application in Tunisia, please see the document "Tunisia and the World Intellectual Property Organization" on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (only in French).

What to check before you start?

The innovative step

In order to be patentable, an invention must meet specific criteria: it must show an element of novelty, an inventive step and must have potential industrial application. For more information, see the WIPO's definition of a patent.

Novelty

You must also check that the invention for which you are seeking a patent has not already been described by someone else before you. Most intellectual property offices offer a patent research facility directly on their website. You can use the different services of the WIPO:

• WIPO's International Patent Applications search engine;
• the International and National Patent Collections platform;
• a list of links to national search engines.

You can also access the INNORPI patent research platform.

The budget

Filing a patent application represents a financial cost, as well as extra workload (administrative management of the applications, monitoring of counterfeits, legal protection of your patent rights). Make sure you have the financial and human resources necessary to monitor your patent or your patent portfolio.

Last update February 2011