• Egypt is a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) (since September 6th 2003)
• Egypt is a member of Strasbourg Agreement Concerning th eInternational Patent Classification(since October 17, 1975).

Procedures:

1. First, we proceed with the filing of the patent application pursuant to the regulations and requirements of the Egyptian Patent Law.
2. Once the application is being filed, the registrar starts examining the registrability, novelty, industrial applicability of the subject patent.
3. The examiner may require whatever amendments may be necessary for the patent to comply with the patentability measures.
4. It is acceptable to file a petition against the rejection decision within (30) days from the date of receiving the official notification in this regard.
5. Once the application is accepted, it is then published in the official gazette; where a (60) days period is granted for any third party to oppose the subject application in Egypt.
6. Should no opposition filed against the application, copies for circulation purposes, which is the final step before grant, must be paid to the Egyptian Patent Office.
7. The term of protection for granted patents in Egypt is 20 years as of the patent's filing date; where annuities must be paid annually till the expiry of the 20-year protection period.

Timer frame:
The approximate time frame in normal cases for a patent application to mature into a granted patent is 3 years.

Annuity Payments:
With regard to national phase PCT applications: annuities are to be paid starting from the international application's filing date.

With regard to national applications: annuities are to be paid starting from the patent's filing date in Egypt. However, a grace period of one year (12 months) is allowed for the payment of due annuities (with a late fine).