Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

is a member of the

WIPO The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishin ...

since 2001 and has acceded to several WIPO

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

treaties. Iran joined the ''Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property'' ( Paris Convention) in 1959. In December 2003 Iran became a party to the

Madrid Agreement Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and the

Madrid Protocol Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

for the ''International Registration of Marks''. In 2005 Iran joined the Lisbon Agreement for the ''Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration'', which ensures the protection of geographical names associated with products. As at February 2008 Iran had yet to accede to ''The Hague Agreement for the Protection of Industrial Designs''.

Agencies responsible for IP policy in Iran

* The ''Department of Authors, Composers and Artists'' at the

Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance ( fa, وزارت فرهنگ و ارشاد اسلامی, ''Vâzart-e Ferheng-e vâ Arshad-e Eslâmi'') ("Ministry of CIG") is the Ministry of Culture of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is responsibl ...

is the main responsible body for copyright matters, * The ''Industrial Property Office at the Organization for Registration of Deeds and Estates'' of the

Judiciary of Iran The Islamic Republic of Iran was founded after the 1979 overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty by the Islamic Revolution, and its legal code is based on Islamic law or sharia, although many aspects of civil law have been retained, and it is integrate ...

is in charge of industrial property affairs. It includes drafting copyright regulations that comply with international standards and international brand registration services. * The

Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST) (in fa, سازمان پژوهش‌های علمی و صنعتی ایران) is a comprehensive science policy research center directly attached to the Ministry of Science, Researc ...

deals with the operationalization of national technology development plans and policies, issuance of scientific certificates and examination of feasibility or industrial applicability of proposed projects and inventions.

Law for the Protection of Authors, Composers and Artists Rights, 1970

Iran has a legal code to protect the proprietary and intellectual rights of works produced inside Iran calle
"Law for the Protection of Authors, Composers and Artists Rights"
dated January 12, 1970, passed by Iran's

National Consultative Assembly The National Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای ملی, Mad̲j̲les-e s̲h̲ūrā-ye mellī) or simply Majles, was the national legislative body of Iran from 1906 to 1979. It was elected by universal suffrage, excluding the armed fo ...

, supplemented with the ''“Law for the protection of Rights of the Authors of Computer Programs”'' passed on (Iranian year 1379). On 22 August 2010, Iran's Islamic Consultative Assembly passed a reformation of article 12 of Law for the Protection of Authors, Composers and Artists Rights and increased the copyright length based on author's death to 50 years after death of author; this law only applies to works that were still in protection when the law passed on 22 August 2010. However these laws do not cover works from outside Iran as it is ''not'' a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works or the

WIPO Copyright Treaty The World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WIPO Copyright Treaty or WCT) is an international treaty on copyright law adopted by the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996. It provides ad ...

, or a member of the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...

(WTO). In 2012 Iran announced plans to join international conventions on the protection of literary, artistic, scientific works, including

Berne Convention The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Bern by ten European countries with the goal to agree on a set of le ...

and Rome Convention.

Law of Registration of Marks and Patents, 1931

The Iranian ''Law of Registration of Marks and Patents of 1931'' stipulates that a trademark is any type of logo, design, picture, number, letter, word, seal, wrapper, etc. that is adopted to identify and distinguish goods and services. The law provides for registration of various types of marks chosen to identify industrial, commercial or agricultural products and goods. It also provides for registration of service marks. The essential requirement is that the mark presented for registration should be distinctive. Obtaining a

court injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...

is a proper remedy to prevent the violation of any right secured by patent. This is provided for in the law, and the complainant can seek compensation of any damages sustained. If the violation falls under the heading of

unfair competition Unfair may refer to: * Double Taz and Double LeBron James in multiverses '' fair''; unfairness or injustice * ''Unfair'' (drama), Japanese television series * '' Unfair: The Movie'' * Unfair (song), a song by South Korean boy group EXO