Procedures

Estimated four (4) to five (5) years for smooth application

• Filing new patent application
• Priority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty or the Paris Convention can be claimed in Myanmar within one (1) year from the date of the initial application
• Publication or public announcement (eighteen (18) months after the date of application)
• Opposition (within ninety (90) days from the announcement date along with payment of the required fee)
• Substantive examination (to be requested within thirty-six (36) months from the date of application)
• Grant of the patent

Requirements

• Name, nationality and address of the applicant(s) and inventor(s)
  
• Patent specification including description, claims, abstract and drawing(s)
• Priority details (if any)
• Application should be filed either in English or in Burmese

Grant & Maintenance

• Twenty (20) years from the filing date
  
• All subsequent annual fees from the second annuity should be paid in advance before the anniversary of the filing date

Remarks*

• Petty patent is available with validity term often (10) years from the filing date
  

Legal Basis

• Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 7/2019 (Myanmar’s Patent Law)
  

Procedures

Estimated six (6) to eight (8) months for smooth application

• Filing new industrial design application
• Paris Convention route to be filed within six (6) months from the earliest claimed priority date
• Examination
• Proceed to registration

Requirements

• Name, nationality and address of the applicant(s) and designer(s) / author(s)
  
• Representation of the design with respective view(s) to be filed
  
• Title and brief description of the design
  
• Classification of the design in accordance with Locarno Classification
• Declaration of Ownership of design
• Power of Attorney
• Priority details (if any)
• Certified copy of Priority Document if priority is claimed
• Application should be filed either in English or in Burmese

Validity Term & Maintenance

• Initial protection of five (5) years from the filing date
  
• Renewal for a further period of ten (10) years subject to the payment of a renewal feeevery five (5) years, for a total of fifteen (15) years
  
• Renewal fee must be paid within six (6) months prior to the validity term expiration
  

Remarks*

• Multiple design application is available
  
• Novelty grace period: twelve (12) months before first priority date or filing date
  

Legal Basis

• Industrial Design Law No. 2/2019 (Myanmar’s Design Law)
  

Protection Duration

• Fifty (50) years after the author’s death for literature and, dramatic, musical and artistic work
  
• Fifty (50) years after the creation for work where the sound can be mechanically reproduced
  
• Twenty-five (25) years for works of applied art
  
• Fifty (50) years from the date of publication for audiovisual works and films
  

Remarks*

• Copyright is an automatic protection, which arises immediately when the work is created without registration requirements
  
• Registration of copyright is in voluntary nature but can be recorded for the purpose of evidence of legal ownership
  

Legal Basis

• Myanmar’s Copyright Law 2019