Once an application for the grant of a patent is filed, it is examined with respect to compliance with the formalities and patentability provided under Law 82/2002. The Patent Office may require amendments necessary to bring the application into conformity with the law.
A patent application must be filed before the invention has become known through disclosure or use worldwide. Novelty is evaluated on the basis of the filing date in Egypt or the application’s priority document if applicable. The Patent Office currently receives many published patents worldwide and requires absolute novelty when examining the patent application.
Patent applications are examined for novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability. Once the application is accepted it is automatically published in the Official Gazette. Any interested party may oppose the grant of a patent within 60 days as from the date of publication. The opposition notice is submitted to the competent committee.
It takes an average of three years from the filing date for a patent to be granted or finally refused. Annuities are to be paid every year as from the filing date of the application even before the patent is granted. However, according to the current patent law, there is a one-year grace period from the due date with a late fine to settle payment of an annuity.
An applicant is entitled to appeal the requirements and conditions of the Patent Office by means of submitting a petition to the competent committee within thirty days as from the receipt of the notice, served to him by the Patent Office. Approved applications are published in the Official Gazette and are rendered open for public inspection.
The patent term is twenty years starting from the date of filing the application. Annuities should be paid until the expiry of the patent protection period.
The rights to a patent may be assigned or transferred through succession. The assignment of patent applications and granted patents must be made in writing. An assignment shall have no effect against third parties unless it has been published in the Official Gazette and duly entered in the relevant records of the Patent Office.
Working of the patent is compulsory in Egypt. In the event that the owner of a patented invention does not satisfy the working requirements within three years as from the date of the grant, or within four years from the filing date, whichever of the two periods is longer, or if working ceases for one year without an acceptable reason, then the patent will be subject to compulsory licensing under the provisions of the law. If within two years as from the grant of the compulsory license, the licensee does not exploit the patented invention, any interested party may apply to the Patent Office demanding the cancellation of the subject patent for non-working.
The rights conferred by a patent lapse, with the end of the protection period as prescribed by the laws, abandoning of patent rights, final court decision to this effect, non-payment of a due annuity within one year after the respective due date or failing to respond to an official action.
Infringement of the rights of a patentee is punishable under the provisions of Law 82/2002.
Egypt signed the TRIPS Agreement in 1995, therefore pharmaceutical and food products could be filed as “mailbox” applications during the transitional period ending on January 1, 2005. As of January 1, 2005, the Egyptian Patent Office opened the “mailbox” and began examination of these product applications.