Brief overview of the patent system in Myanmar

Myanmar PT

Myanmar is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), also a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a signatory to the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. The current draft of the new Patent Law of Myanmar is intended to set up an appropriate legal intellectual property right system in order to promote technical innovation and foreign investment as well as industrial development in the country.

At present, a patent is registrable in accordance with the Section 18(f) of the Registration Act and may be protected by recording a Declaration of Ownership with the Myanmar Registry Office of Deeds and Assurances, which is under the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. There is no formality examination, opposition or publication in a patent gazette, apart from checking that applications conform to the Registration Act.

The patent owner may also publish a Cautionary Notice disclosing basic patent information in a local newspaper to remind the public of any possible passing-off and infringement of the right over the patent. The publication of the patent is NOT compulsory but is strongly recommended as there is no patent search system in Myanmar.

The current practice for renewal of registration of patents is usually once in every three-year by way of re-registration in the form of Declaration or re-publication in the local daily newspapers; or both.

Under the current patent registration system in Myanmar, the following are required information for recordation of a Declaration of Ownership:

1. Applicant: full name, address and nationality;
2. Inventor: full name, address and nationality;
3. Priority data: filing number, date and country (if applicable);
4. International filing data: filing and publishing number (as to PCT patent applications).

Required documents are:

1. Patent specification, claims and abstract (including drawings, if any) in English;
2. Declaration of Ownership (to be signed by the authorized representative of the Applicant);
3. Power of Attorney, which needs to be notarized and legalized up to the Myanmar Embassy.

Myanmar has agreed to conform to the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement by 2021. The Myanmar government has started drafting the Intellectual Property Law in line with such Agreement since 2004. This draft has been repeatedly amended and has not yet been finalized and adopted.

Once the draft patent law becomes effective, the registration steps shall be as follows:


Although patents have been registered under the current law, patent owners are encouraged to register their patents with the Myanmar Intellectual Property Office once the new law is effective in order to extend the protection period for more than three years.