Patent Protection in Cambodia is governed by “The Law on Patents, Utility Model Certificates and Industrial Designs” (adopted by the National Assembly on November 28, 2002 during the ninth plenary session of its second legislature and ratified by the Senate (December 31, 2002)), and “Prakas No. 766 on Procedure for granting Patent and Utility Model Certificates” dated May 28, 2007.

Under the law, the "Patent" means the title granted to protect an invention. "Invention" means an idea of an inventor which permits in practice the solution to a specific problem in the field of technology. An invention may be, or may relate to, a product or a process. The duration of a patent for invention is 20 years from the official filing date, and the annual fee has to be paid each year in order to maintain the patent.

An invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable.

“A Utility Model Certificate” means a certificate which is granted for the protection of a utility model. “Utility model” means any invention which is new and industrially applicable and may be, or may relate to, a product or process. A utility model certificate shall expire, without any possibility of renewal, at the end of the seventh (7th) year after the date of the filing of the application.

The following subject matters shall be excluded from patent protection:

• Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;

• Schemes, rules or methods for doing business, performing purely mental acts or playing games;

• Methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy, as well as diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body; this provision shall not apply to products for use in any of those methods;

• Pharmaceutical products (it shall be excluded until January 01, 2016; patent applications for pharmaceutical products may be filed now, but they will be examined after January 01, 2016);

• Plants and animals other than micro-organisms, and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals;

• Plants varieties.

Application for granting a Patent and Utility Model Certificate shall be filed with the Department of Industrial Property (“DIP”) under the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME), and it requires the following documents and information:

• A notarized Power of Attorney from the applicant granting an agent/authorized representative the authority to act on their behalf in the registration process (must be submitted within 2 months from the filing date) (click here to download form);

• Specification including description, claims, abstract and any necessary drawings;

• A notarized Deed of Assignment from the inventor(s) to the applicant if the applicant and the inventor(s) are not the same (must be submitted within 3 months from the filing date);

• Full Name, Address and Nationality of the applicant and inventor(s);

• Information including the International patent classification, the filing date, number of application, and the country of any priority application;

• A copy of the priority application(s) filed by the applicant or his/her predecessor in title duly certified by the Patent and Trade Mark Office receiving the priority application(s) and the sworn English translation in the case the priority application(s) is not in English (should be submitted within three (3) months from the filing date);

• Information concerning corresponding foreign application and patent:

The applicant shall, at the request of the DIP, provide the date and number of any application for a patent filed by him abroad relating to the same or essentially the same invention as that claimed in the application filed at the DIP.

The applicant shall, at the request of the DIP, provide the following documents relating to one or more of the foreign applications:

• A copy of any communication received by the applicant concerning the results of any search or examination carried out in respect of application;

• A copy of the patent granted on the basis of the foreign application;

• A copy of any final decision rejecting the foreign application or refusing the grant requested in the foreign application.

The applicant shall, at the request of the DIP, provide a copy of any final decision invalidating the patent granted on the basis of the foreign application.

Once complete documentation has been submitted, the process of registration may usually take one to two years.

PCT Application for entering the National Phase requires the applicant(s) to pay the prescribed fee to the DIP, and if the PCT application or its publication under the Patent Cooperation Treaty is not in the prescribed language, to submit a translation of the PCT application in that language before the expiration of the time limit applicable under Article 22 and 39 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Vintell Patent & Trademark Company provide clients with a full range of patent services, including searching, drafting, filing, prosecution of patent applications, appeals, licensing and assignments, and enforcing patents through negotiation and litigation.