The Republic of Turkmenistan, known as Turkmenistan for short, is a central Asian country. Its official languages are Turkmen and Russian. On December 12, 1995, it was accepted by the United Nations as a permanent neutralized state. On May 18, 1992, it passed the first constitution, according to which Turkmenistan is a democratic, legal and secular presidential republic with separation of the three powers.

Turkmenistan became an official member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1995 when it became a party to several international IP treaties.

On July 4, 2013, a new IP authority was established in Turkmenistan, that is, State IP Office of the Ministry of Economic Development (Turkmenpatent), under which the patent department, copyright department and new plant variety department were established.

IP protection in Turkmenistan mainly applies to the following six categories:

Invention Patent and Appearance Design Patent

Turkmenistan passed the Invention and Appearance Design Law (last revised on July 4, 2013) in 2008, which authorizes natural persons and legal persons in Turkmenistan to apply for the registration of inventions and industrial designs and provides legal protection.

Under this law, invention patents can be divided into limited patents for inventions and patents for inventions with a term of 10 years and 20 years respectively from the application date; the appearance design patents include limited patents for appearance design (with a term of 10 years) and patents for appearance design (with a term of 15 years); drug patents and pesticide patents can be extended for 5 years through applications.

Trademark and Appellations of Origin

The Law of Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Turkmenistan was published on October 23, 2008, which prescribes that a trademark registrant can be a legal person or natural person; a registered trademark is effective for 10 years after the application date and can be renewed upon the expiration if applied by the owner, which shall be announced; the user can apply for the registration of any mark that gains the significance or recognizability after the use as a trademark; a trademark must be used after the registration and can be revoked if not used within 3 years or for 3 continuous years; the trademark owner can transfer the trademark or authorize others to use the trademark, for which relevant contracts have to be recorded in TMPATENT, otherwise the act of transfer or authorization will be deemed invalid.

Pursuant to this law, appellations of origin refer to the marks, labels, signs, texts, graphics and various origin-related certificates used to indicate that a product or service comes from some country or region. During application, the request of the applicant of the origin of the commodity and the description of his location or address, origin of commodity and special properties of commodity shall be submitted and specified fee paid. The rights and obligations of a registered appellation of origin are basically the same as those of a registered trademark.

Copyright and Neighboring Right

The Copyright and Neighboring Right Law of Turkmenistan was published and effected on January 20, 2012, pursuant to which the author of original works is natural person; the author of audiovisualworks can be natural person or legal person; the term of copyright protection covers the whole life of the author and 50 years after his death; the term of protection of unsigned works is 50 years from the publication date of legal product; neighboring rights include the spiritual and economic rights of performers, producers of sound and video recordings and broadcasting organizations; the term of neighboring right protection is 50 years from the date of first occurrence, publication or spreading of the performance, recording and broadcasting.

Computer Program, Database and Integrated Circuit Layout Design

The Computer Program, Database and Integrated Circuit Layout Design Protection Law was adopted on September 23, 1994 in Turkmenistan, which was modified on June 22, 2013 by On the Modifications of Several Legislations of Turkmenistan and effective on July 4, 2013. This law explains the definitions of computer programs, databases and integrated circuit layout design (chip) and regulates the acts of processing and reproduction of the same.

New Plant Variety

The New Plant Variety Protection Law of Turkmenistan was put into official implementation on August 13, 2011 to protect the breeding achievements in Turkmenistan. Applicable breeding research achievements include: genotypes or genotype combinations of specific plant populations; signs of new biological and morphological properties; seeds and seeds, seedlings and others of propagation materials; animal and plant communities used for reproduction of varieties. A natural person or legal person can apply for the exclusive breeding right, the owner of which has the exclusive right and related copyright in using and inducing mutation of varieties.

Trade Secret

The Trade Secret Law of Turkmenistan was published and effected on December 19, 2000 to specify the use, spreading, storage and protection of trade secret information. The law applies to citizens of Turkmenistan, foreign citizens and stateless persons. Any official, enterprise, organization, institution personnel, other natural persons and legal persons in violation of the Trade Secret Law shall bear corresponding responsibilities.