The Eurasian patent and Uzbekistan: one filing, eight countries

A Tashkent maker of industrial equipment obtained a Eurasian patent on an assembly it had designed in-house, celebrated, and a year later found a local competitor building the same mechanism at a plant near Fergana and selling it across Uzbekistan. The company's lawyer came to us holding the patent and asking how to sue. The answer was unwelcome: a Eurasian patent has no effect in Uzbekistan — the country is not a member of the Eurasian Patent Organization, and the Fergana plant was infringing nothing. To stop the copy at home, the company had needed a separate national filing at the IP Center, lodged within the same twelve-month priority window as the Eurasian one. That window had already closed. This article is about what a Eurasian patent covers, what it does not, and how to avoid that mistake.

Start here: Uzbekistan is not in the EAPO

A Eurasian patent is granted by the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) under the Eurasian Patent Convention, which entered into force on 12 August 1995. The office is headquartered in Moscow and its working language is Russian. The idea is elegant: one application, one examination, one patent in force across every member state at once.

There are currently eight member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan signed the Convention in 1994 but never ratified it. As a result, a Eurasian patent has no legal effect in Uzbekistan. This is not a technicality or a loophole — it is the foundation on which half the "patent strategies" that land on our desk collapse.

The practical takeaway is worth committing to memory word for word: a Eurasian patent protects an invention in those eight states and in no other. To protect the invention inside Uzbekistan itself, you need a national filing at the Intellectual Property Center under the Ministry of Justice (IP Center), under the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Inventions, Utility Models and Industrial Designs." That is two separate applications, two separate offices, two separate sets of fees.

Two systems, two markets: how they fit together

An Uzbek company that develops a technology and intends to sell it almost always faces two independent questions. First: do I want to stop copies at home, in Uzbekistan? Second: do I want to stop copies in export markets — Russia, Kazakhstan, the rest of the eight?

Only a national filing at the IP Center answers the first question. An invention under an Uzbek patent is protected for 20 years from the filing date; a utility model runs shorter (around 8 years under current IP Center practice) but is cheaper and faster to obtain. The second question has two answers: file separate national applications in each member state, or file a single Eurasian patent that covers them all at once.

This is where the Eurasian system earns its place. If your exports go to two or three EAPO countries or more, one Eurasian patent is almost always cheaper, simpler, and faster than a stack of national applications across the same territories. You sit one examination instead of eight, prepare one set of documents in one language instead of eight translations, and deal with one office instead of eight.

The key point: it is not an either/or. An Uzbek technology exporter usually needs both filings. The national one protects the home market, where the company physically manufactures and sells. The Eurasian one closes the sales markets across the EAEU and neighbours in a single move. The logic mirrors a brand that registers its trademark both at home and abroad — see our breakdown of the Madrid System for trademarks: the same "one application, many countries" principle, applied to inventions.

Twelve months of priority — a window that is easy to sleep through

The most expensive mistake in this pairing is a timing mismatch. For inventions and utility models, the Paris Convention grants twelve months of convention priority (not six — six months applies to industrial designs and trademarks). That means: if you filed your first application — say, the national one at the IP Center — on 15 January 2026, you have until 15 January 2027 to file the Eurasian application while keeping the same priority date.

The priority date is the line against which the examiner compares your invention to the prior art. File the Eurasian application within a year of the national one and both are treated "as if filed on the same day" — your own publications in between do not destroy novelty. Miss the window and the priority is gone, and now your own national application (if published) becomes prior art cited against your Eurasian one.

That is exactly how the equipment maker from the opening got burned: it filed the Eurasian application but not the national one in Uzbekistan, and woke up after the twelve-month priority had lapsed, when filing at the IP Center had become pointless. The rule is simple: the "home and export" decision is made at the same time, at the very start, before the first publication. Not after.

How to file a Eurasian application from Uzbekistan

Because Uzbekistan is not a member state, an Uzbek applicant cannot file a Eurasian application through a national office (that route is open only to residents of EAPO states). Two paths remain for you:

1. Direct filing with EAPO. The application goes straight to the Eurasian Office in Moscow, in Russian. An applicant with no residence in a member state must act through a registered Eurasian patent attorney — this is a procedural requirement, not an option.
2. Via the PCT (regional phase). If you originally filed an international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), you can enter the "Eurasian regional phase" at EAPO. The deadline to enter is 31 months from the priority date — the same deadline as for entering the PCT national phase in Uzbekistan itself. The PCT is convenient when there are many countries and they include both EAPO members and states outside it: one international application later branches into both the Eurasian phase and separate national phases.

For a technology company that knows its markets in advance, the direct Eurasian filing is often faster and cheaper. The PCT is taken when you need to "buy time" to decide — 31 months to work out which countries to enter, while the application has already staked your priority date worldwide.

Term and maintenance: pay only for the countries you want

A Eurasian patent runs for 20 years from the filing date — the same as an Uzbek national invention patent. But it has a maintenance feature that makes the system economical.

After grant, the patent is maintained through annual fees, and each year you choose yourself in which member states you want to keep it in force. No longer need protection in Turkmenistan? Don't pay for Turkmenistan, and the patent lapses there while staying alive everywhere else. That flexibility does not exist with a stack of national patents, where dropping a country means separately tracking and not paying each national file.

Since 1 June 2021, EAPO also grants Eurasian patents for industrial designs — a separate mechanism with its own term (5 years, renewable up to 25). If you are protecting not just a technical solution but also the look of a product, this can run as a parallel track; we covered the logic of design protection in our piece on the industrial design in Uzbekistan. But the same limit applies here too: a Eurasian design patent does not reach Uzbekistan.

When a Eurasian patent beats eight national ones

The decision comes down to a single number — in how many EAPO countries you genuinely need protection. A rough but workable rule from our practice:

• One EAPO country (say, Russia only). A national application in that country is cheaper and simpler. The Eurasian route is overkill.
• Two or three countries. A zone of indifference — run the numbers on the specific fees and translations. The Eurasian route is often already cheaper thanks to the single examination and the absence of translations.
• Four or more. The Eurasian patent almost always wins, on both cost and manageability. One examination instead of eight, one attorney, one term.

Add the qualitative factors. A Eurasian patent is a single prosecution in Russian: for an Uzbek company that already works in Russian, that removes eight translations and eight parallel exchanges with examiners. The downside — all the eggs in one basket: if the Eurasian application is refused on the merits, you lose all eight countries at once, whereas with national applications a refusal in one country leaves the others untouched.

The real economics: what actually drives the cost

Exact sums depend on the number of countries, the size of the claim set, and the tariffs EAPO revises periodically (the office's fees are denominated in Russian roubles — check the current schedule before filing). But the cost structure is stable, and it is the structure that drives the choice.

The line item most often forgotten in this pairing is the Uzbek national application. It is always a separate budget: in our practice, protecting an invention in Uzbekistan end to end, official fees included, starts at roughly 15,000,000 UZS. A Eurasian patent does not — and cannot — close that line. Anyone planning both home and export budgets for both at once.

In short

• Uzbekistan is not in the EAPO (8 member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan). A Eurasian patent has no effect in Uzbekistan.
• Protection at home — only a national filing at the IP Center. Invention: 20 years. Utility model: shorter and cheaper.
• Protection for exports to EAPO countries — one Eurasian patent instead of a stack of national ones. Pays off from roughly three countries up.
• Priority for inventions is 12 months (not 6). The "home plus export" decision is made at once, before the first publication.
• Filing from Uzbekistan: directly with EAPO through a Eurasian attorney, or via the PCT (regional phase, 31 months from priority).
• Maintaining a Eurasian patent is annual, with the right to choose countries. Term: 20 years from the filing date.

Frequently asked questions

Will a Eurasian patent protect my invention in Uzbekistan? No. Uzbekistan never ratified the Eurasian Patent Convention and is not among the eight member states. A Eurasian patent is in force in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan — and nowhere else. Protection in Uzbekistan requires a separate national filing at the IP Center.

Then why would an Uzbek company want a Eurasian patent at all? To protect the invention in export markets across the EAPO states with a single application. If you manufacture in Uzbekistan but sell in Russia and Kazakhstan, a Eurasian patent closes the sales markets with one prosecution. Home still requires a national filing.

Can I file in Uzbekistan first, then the Eurasian application? Yes, and this is the typical sequence. The Paris Convention gives 12 months of priority for inventions: after filing the national application at the IP Center, you file the Eurasian one within a year while keeping the same priority date. The one rule — do not miss those twelve months, or the priority lapses and your own published national application becomes prior art against you.

What is the risk of a Eurasian patent compared with national ones? Concentration. A refusal on the merits, or a later invalidation of the Eurasian patent, hits all eight countries at once. With separate national applications, a failure in one country leaves the rest untouched. So for a critical asset, the key country is sometimes deliberately doubled with a national filing as insurance.

How long does a Eurasian patent last, and can I drop some countries? The term is 20 years from the filing date. Maintenance is paid annually, and each year you choose which member states to keep the patent in force in. You can gradually shed countries where protection is no longer needed without losing it elsewhere.

How does the PCT differ from a direct Eurasian filing? The PCT is an international "umbrella" procedure that defers the choice of specific countries to 31 months from priority. From the PCT you later enter both the Eurasian regional phase (for EAPO states) and the national phases of individual countries — Uzbekistan included. A direct Eurasian filing is faster and cheaper when the markets are known in advance; the PCT is taken when you need time for the strategic decision.

Does an Uzbek applicant need a patent attorney for the Eurasian filing? Yes. An applicant with no residence in a member state must deal with EAPO through a registered Eurasian patent attorney. This is a procedural requirement, not a recommendation. Route selection and prosecution are our patent practice.

A Eurasian patent is a powerful instrument, but it solves exactly one problem: protection across eight markets, none of which is Uzbekistan. The most expensive illusion in this area is to assume that one "big international patent" covers both home and export. It does not. The Uzbek market is protected by an Uzbek filing, and the decision on both applications is made on the same day — while the priority window is still open.