Iran rewrote its patent law in 2024. The Industrial Property Act, adopted on 22 May 2024, replaced the 2007/2008 Act on the Registration of Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks and now governs every invention filed in the country. This guide sets out what the Act protects, how a patent is obtained and kept, and how it can be lost or challenged. Each point links to the full text of the relevant article.
What can — and cannot — be patented
An invention, under Article 1, is a product or a process that provides a new, practical solution to a specific technical problem in a field of industry. Both products and processes qualify.
The Act also draws clear boundaries. Article 4 excludes discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods; a new use of a known product; schemes and methods for mental acts, business or games; methods for diagnosis, surgery and treatment; naturally occurring biological material; and any invention whose exploitation is contrary to sharia, public order, or that harms life, health or the environment.
To be registrable, an invention must meet the three conditions in Article 12: novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability. The Act allows a six-month grace period — disclosure by the inventor within six months before filing does not destroy novelty.
Who can apply, and who owns the result
The right to apply belongs to the inventor or the person who commissioned the invention (Article 5). Iran is a first-to-file country: where two people independently make the same invention, the earlier filer prevails (Article 8).
Ownership of workplace inventions is a frequent question. Under Article 9, the economic rights to an invention made in the course of employment belong to the employer unless agreed otherwise — but where the invention falls outside the employee’s contracted work, the rights stay with the employee. Applicants relying on an earlier foreign filing have a twelve-month priority window under the Paris Convention (Article 10).
From filing to grant
After filing, the Registration Authority carries out substantive examination within one year, extendable by six months (Article 26). The application is published eighteen months after filing (Article 27), and third parties may oppose within nine months of the final text being published (Article 29). A rejected application can be taken to the Board for the Settlement of Industrial Property Registration Disputes, and from there to court (Article 23).
Your rights, and their term
A granted patent gives the holder exclusive control over the invention. For a product, that means manufacture, importation, offering for sale, sale, use, and stocking (Article 36). Those rights are not unlimited: Article 38 carves out exhaustion of marketed goods, research and educational use, prior good-faith use, personal non-commercial use, and several pharmaceutical exceptions.
A patent lasts twenty years from the filing date (Article 34) — measured from filing, not grant, and with no extension. To keep it alive, renewal fees begin after the second year and run annually, with a six-month grace period on penalty (Article 65).
How a patent is lost or challenged
Exclusive rights lapse on expiry, abandonment, non-payment, or invalidation (Article 62). A court can invalidate a patent that covered excluded subject matter, lacked the substantive conditions, was granted to the wrong person, or was not worked in Iran within the statutory period (Article 67). Separately, the Act allows compulsory licences on four grounds — national interest, anti-competitive conduct, failure to work the invention, and dependent later inventions (Article 39).
When rights are infringed, the holder can claim full damages including lost profits (Article 72) and seek seizure and injunctions, including at customs (Article 73). Enforcement is covered in our separate guide on penalties and courts.
This is general information on the Industrial Property Act, not legal advice. For a specific matter, speak with HENGAM’s patent and litigation team.
Sadegh Shamshiri
Sadegh leads on legal strategy and represents high-profile clients in IP litigation and enforcement — across trademarks, patents, designs, copyright, and domain names, including complex multi-jurisdictional disputes.