Bangladesh's new patent law comes into effect

The Bangladesh Patent Law 2023 will come into effect on February 27, 2025. According to the revised new patent law, the main changes involve the following aspects:

1. Under the Act, the term of patent protection is extended to 20 years.
2. Patent maintenance requires annual fees, which can be paid within a grace period of 3 months after the due date, but a late payment fee will be charged.
3. The request for substantive examination is an important aspect of this legal change. Applicants must file a request for substantive examination and pay the examination fee within 36 months from the date of application. Previously, the deadline could be extended by up to three years, but now it can only be extended by three months in special circumstances.
4. The authorization publication fee must be paid when adding an authorization.
5. The applicant must submit all notices regarding the corresponding foreign application, copies of the patent grant notice, and rejection notices within 90 days upon the examiner's request.
6. In case of patent expiration, the request for restoration of rights must be filed within 2 years from the due date of the annual renewal fee.
7. A new patent type, utility model, has been added, with a registration validity period of 8 years from the date of application.