Patent Registration in Bangladesh: Application Requirements and Process

Patent registration Bangladesh under the Patent Act 2023

Patent registration Bangladesh now runs under a single modern statute. The Bangladesh Patent Act 2023 came into force on 27 February 2025 and replaced a regime that, for most of the country's history, rested on a colonial-era law offering sixteen years of protection with little substantive scrutiny.[3] The new Act introduces a request-based substantive examination, eighteen-month publication, pre-grant and post-grant opposition, a twenty-year term, utility models and detailed disclosure duties that many foreign applicants have not met anywhere else.[2]

This guide is written for inventors, research teams, in-house counsel and foreign patent attorneys who need to file, prosecute and hold a patent in Bangladesh. It explains what can be patented, who may apply, the documents a complete application needs, each procedural stage from filing to grant, the deadlines that cause abandonment, the cost structure, why the Patent Cooperation Treaty is not available, what the 2026 LDC graduation question means for pharmaceutical filings, and how a granted patent is licensed, challenged and enforced. For the wider intellectual property framework, including trademarks, designs and copyright, see our overview of intellectual property law in Bangladesh.

Summary: A Bangladesh patent is obtained by filing an application with the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, claiming any Paris Convention priority within twelve months, requesting substantive examination within thirty-six months, surviving a six-month pre-grant opposition window after publication and then paying annual fees for up to twenty years. Bangladesh is not a PCT member, so every foreign application must be filed directly.

Key point: The examination request under section 21 of the Patent Act 2023 is the deadline that most often kills applications. If it is not filed, with the fee, within thirty-six months of the filing date (extendable once by three months), the application is deemed abandoned.

At a glance

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Table of Contents

The legal framework for patent registration Bangladesh in 2026

The Bangladesh Patent Act 2023 was assented to and published on 13 November 2023 and was brought into force on 27 February 2025 by SRO No. 56-Act/2025, issued on 12 February 2025.[1] [3] It repeals the short-lived Bangladesh Patent Act 2022 (Act No. V of 2022), which had itself taken patents out of the Patents and Designs Act 1911.[3] [14] Applications pending under the 2022 Act are disposed of under the 2023 Act, and earlier court decisions are preserved.[2]

The authoritative text of the Act is in Bengali. English versions circulating among practitioners, including the translation published by the Japan Patent Office, are translations and should be checked against the official text on any contested point.[1] [7]

Who administers the system

Under the Patent Act 2023, decision-making authority sits with the Director General of the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (DPDT), which operates under the Ministry of Industries. The Director General receives applications, directs examination, hears oppositions, grants or refuses patents, maintains the register and records assignments and licences.[2] Older guidance that refers to the Registrar describes the pre-2023 structure.

Rules, forms and fees: what is and is not settled

The Act leaves forms, fees and many procedural details to be prescribed, and section 70 empowers the government to make rules by gazette notification.[2] The US Commercial Service has reported that the government was drafting Patent Rules to clarify procedure.[8] At the date of this update we have not been able to confirm publication of final Patent Rules under the 2023 Act in the official law database, so filing practice currently relies on DPDT's prescribed forms and published fee schedule. Confirm the current schedule with the office, or through local counsel, before budgeting or paying.

How this guide fits with other IP rights

Patents protect technical inventions. Brands, product appearance and creative works follow separate regimes: see our guides to trademark registration at the DPDT and copyright registration in Bangladesh. A single product often needs all three, and the filing strategies should be planned together.

What can be patented in Bangladesh

An invention is defined as a new product or process that involves an inventive step and is capable of industrial application. Novelty and prior art are assessed against disclosure, use or publication anywhere in the world, so absolute novelty applies.[2] We found no general grace period for an applicant's own pre-filing disclosure in the Act, so treat any public presentation, sale, journal article or trade-fair display before filing as potentially fatal.

Statutory exclusions under section 6

Section 6(1) excludes a long list of subject matter, including:[2]

• discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
• business methods, rules for mental acts and computer programs or algorithms as such;
• surgical, therapeutic and diagnostic methods practised on humans or animals;
• naturally occurring materials, plants, animals and biological material, with an exception for man-made micro-organisms;
• inventions whose use would be contrary to public order, morality or health;
• mere combinations or adaptations of known devices; and
• new forms, new uses or alternatives of known substances, with salts, polymers, isomers and similar derivatives of a known substance treated as the same substance.

The last exclusion is significant for pharmaceutical and chemical applicants. It is an anti-evergreening rule, and claims to a new crystalline form or new use of a known compound need careful drafting and evidence of a real technical difference.

Atomic energy and pharmaceuticals

Section 7 bars patents for inventions relating to atomic energy. Section 6(2) keeps pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products outside patent protection for as long as the TRIPS exemption period for least developed countries applies, and lets the government adjust that period by gazette notification.[2] We return to the timing of that exemption below.

Software and computer-implemented inventions

Because computer programs and algorithms are excluded as such, software-related claims must be framed around a concrete technical effect in a device, system or industrial process. Pure code is better protected as a literary work under copyright, as explained in our guide to copyright law in Bangladesh.

Who may apply and who owns the invention

An application may be made by the true and first inventor, by a person claiming ownership through the inventor, or by the legal representative of a deceased inventor. Joint inventors share the right. Where two people make the same invention independently, the first to file is entitled to the patent.[2] For patent registration Bangladesh is therefore a first-to-file jurisdiction, and delay can transfer the right to a competitor.

Employee inventions

Where an invention is made under a contract of employment, the right vests in the employer unless the contract provides otherwise. An invention made by an employee using the employer's resources, without a specific contract term, also belongs to the employer unless the employment agreement says otherwise.[2] Employers should still use written invention-assignment clauses, because the applicant must evidence its right to apply.

Foreign applicants and patent agents

A non-resident applicant must be represented by a person resident in Bangladesh, and the Director General maintains a register of patent agents whose eligibility is to be set by rules.[2] In practice, foreign companies act through a local agent appointed by power of attorney, which must accompany the application or follow within the time the office allows.

Patent application requirements and documents

Section 8 of the Patent Act 2023 sets out what an application must contain. Each application must relate to one invention, or a group of inventions forming a single inventive concept, and must be filed in the prescribed form.[2] Getting the content right at filing matters more in Bangladesh than in many offices, because several disclosure duties are grounds for opposition or revocation later.

The application form and declarations

The form records the applicant's and inventor's particulars, the title, the priority claim and a summary. It must include a declaration that the applicant is in possession of the invention and, where the applicant is not the inventor, the identity of the true and first inventor. The Director General may also require a model or specimen.[2]

The complete specification

The complete specification must describe the invention fully enough for a person skilled in the art to work it, disclose the best method known to the applicant, end with one or more claims defining the scope of protection, and include an abstract of no more than 300 words, with drawings where needed.[2] Protection extends only to uses expressly claimed, so claim sets drafted for other offices should be reviewed rather than filed unchanged.

Supporting documents

• Power of attorney where an agent files.
• Assignment or proof of right where the applicant is not the inventor.
• Certified priority document where priority is claimed, with an English translation if needed.
• Prior art disclosure of relevant prior knowledge known to the applicant.
• International Non-proprietary Name for a pharmaceutical invention, or within 30 days if it is not yet available.
• Source and geographic origin of any biological resource and associated traditional knowledge used in the invention.
• Deposit details for a micro-organism, which must be deposited with a designated depository in Bangladesh before filing.[2]

Provisional and complete specifications

An applicant may file a provisional specification first. The complete specification must then follow within twelve months, and the provisional filing date becomes the priority date for matter it supports.[2] A provisional filing is useful for local inventors who need an early date before development is finished, but it does not extend the Paris year for foreign priority.

Deficiencies and abandonment

If the office finds the application deficient, it directs the applicant to amend within a set time, and failure to comply means the application is treated as abandoned.[2] Every official letter should be logged against its deadline on receipt.

Priority, PCT status and foreign filing strategy

Paris Convention priority

Bangladesh has been party to the Paris Convention since 3 March 1991.[5] The Patent Act 2023 provides a twelve-month priority period, applies the earliest date where several priorities are claimed and allows the Director General to require a certificate from the office of first filing.[2] The twelve-month date is the absolute deadline for a foreign applicant who wants to rely on an earlier filing.

Bangladesh is not a PCT member

Bangladesh is not one of the 159 contracting states of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.[4] There is no PCT national phase at thirty or thirty-one months. An applicant who has filed a PCT application and waits for the national phase will lose the opportunity to claim priority in Bangladesh, and if the PCT application has been published, the invention will usually no longer be new. Patent registration Bangladesh for foreign groups therefore has to be decided within the Paris year, at the same time as other direct-filing countries.

Reporting foreign applications

Section 15 requires the applicant to report corresponding foreign applications and their outcomes within 90 days, and to keep the office updated every six months until grant or refusal. Failure to comply can lead to rejection and is also an opposition ground.[2] Build this into the docketing system: the duty runs for years and is easy to miss once prosecution elsewhere moves on.

Divisional applications

A divisional application may be filed within three years of the original application, up to a maximum of three, and keeps the parent's filing and priority dates.[2] This is tighter than many jurisdictions and matters where a unity objection is likely.

Security review and foreign filing

Applications that may affect national security are kept confidential and referred to the competent authority, which has 90 days to respond. Until the matter is cleared or that period expires, the applicant may not file abroad.[2] Bangladeshi inventors in defence-adjacent fields should file locally first and wait out the review before foreign filing.

The patent registration Bangladesh procedure step by step

The sequence below reflects how a typical application moves through the DPDT under the Patent Act 2023. Timelines in practice depend on the office's workload and the speed of responses.

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Filing and the filing date

The filing date is the date on which the Director General receives the application.[2] File as early as the complete text allows; incomplete supporting documents can usually follow, but the specification cannot be expanded later without losing date.

Publication at eighteen months

Applications are opened to public inspection eighteen months after filing, or earlier on request and payment of a fee. The publication includes the title, applicant and inventor details, dates, priority, classification, drawings and summary. There is no public inspection before publication, and no infringement suit may be brought before grant.[2]

Pre-grant opposition

Any person may oppose after publication, and a patent may not be granted until six months from publication have passed. Grounds include prior claims, prior public knowledge or use, lack of inventive step, excluded subject matter, insufficient disclosure, failure to report foreign applications and failure to disclose biological resources or traditional knowledge. The Director General hears both sides and issues a written order within one month.[2]

Request for substantive examination

Examination is not automatic. The applicant must request it, with the fee, within thirty-six months of filing. The period may be extended by three months; otherwise the application is deemed abandoned.[2] [7]

Examination, grant and timelines

The examiner's report

The examiner reports on compliance with the Act, any lawful objection to grant, the results of the search and other prescribed matters. An adverse report is communicated to the applicant, who may respond and be heard.[2] Responses should address each objection with amended claims and argument together, because amended claims are re-examined.

What the examiner tests

Section 23 directs the search to novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability and the section 6 exclusions, and to whether an asserted inventive step is supported by evidence and comparative data.[2] For chemical and biological inventions, comparative test data showing an unexpected technical advantage should be ready before examination begins. The Act also states that examination does not guarantee validity and that the government bears no liability for it.[2]

Grant, certificate and register

After examination and the opposition window, the Director General grants or refuses the application, notifies the applicant in writing, publishes the grant, issues a certificate and enters the patent in the register.[2] A granted patent has effect throughout Bangladesh, and the date of the patent is the filing or priority date.[2]

How long it takes

The statute fixes only some time points: eighteen months to publication, six months of opposition after publication, and thirty-six months to request examination. Because examination under the 2023 Act is new and the office is building capacity, total pendency is not yet predictable from published data.[8] Applicants who need a patent quickly should request early publication and file the examination request promptly rather than at the end of the thirty-six months.

Post-grant opposition

Any interested person may oppose a granted patent within twenty-four months of publication on the same grounds as pre-grant opposition. The Director General may maintain, amend or revoke the patent and must give reasons within one month.[2] Patentees should treat the first two years after grant as a period of continuing exposure.

Appeals

An appeal against a decision of the Director General, including on compulsory licences and remuneration, lies to the High Court Division within two months.[2]

Patent registration Bangladesh timeline at a glance

The table summarises the main statutory time points. On a phone, scroll it sideways.

These are statutory limits under the Patent Act 2023, not office service standards. Where the office sets a shorter period in an official letter, that period governs the response.

Term, annual fees and restoration

A patent lasts twenty years from the filing or priority date. Annual fees must be paid to keep it alive, with a late-payment window of three months on payment of a surcharge. If the fee is not paid, the patent ceases. The patentee may apply for restoration within two years of the due date by showing reasonable cause.[2] [7]

What patent registration costs

The Act itself sets no amounts; fees for filing, early publication, examination requests, extensions, renewals and restoration are prescribed separately.[2] Commentators also disagree on details such as the year from which annual fees fall due, so we do not reproduce fee tables here.[14] A realistic budget for patent registration Bangladesh should include official fees, agent and translation costs, notarisation of foreign documents, the cost of responding to an examination report and the risk of an opposition hearing.

Working information

Section 66 allows the Director General to ask a patentee or licensee, by written notice, whether the patented invention is being commercially worked in Bangladesh and to require periodic information at intervals of not less than one year.[2] Working information also feeds into compulsory licensing, so patentees should keep a record of local supply, imports and licensing.

Utility models: the second-tier option

The Patent Act 2023 also creates utility model patents for the structure or shape of a product or accessory that is industrially useful, technically advanced and not part of the prior art. Processes and methods, standalone software, chemical compounds, certain pharmaceutical and biotechnological compositions, natural biological material and simple aggregations of known devices are excluded.[2]

A utility model application is filed in the prescribed form with a claim and supporting description, is published, and is examined for novelty, industrial applicability and registrability, with oppositions decided by the Director General after a hearing. The term is eight years from the filing or priority date, renewable.[2] For local manufacturers whose improvements are practical rather than inventive, a utility model can be the more realistic and cheaper form of protection.

Pharmaceutical patents, TRIPS and LDC graduation in 2026

Pharmaceutical filings are the most time-sensitive part of patent registration Bangladesh in 2026. Section 6(2) of the Patent Act 2023 excludes pharmaceutical and agrochemical products while the TRIPS exemption for least developed countries applies.[2] That exemption, extended by the WTO TRIPS Council in November 2015, runs until 1 January 2033 or until a country ceases to be an LDC, if that happens earlier.[6]

Where graduation stands in October 2026

Bangladesh is scheduled to leave the LDC category on 24 November 2026. In July 2026 the UN Economic and Social Council, by consensus, backed Bangladesh's and Nepal's requests for a three-year extension of their preparatory period, which would move graduation to November 2029, and recommended that the General Assembly decide before 24 November 2026.[9] The General Assembly's Second Committee was scheduled to take up the matter on 7 October 2026.[10] On 19 October 2026 the Commerce Minister said a decision was expected within October and before the November deadline.[11] At the date of this update no final General Assembly decision had been reported. Check the outcome before advising on any pharmaceutical filing.

What graduation would change

If graduation takes effect, the WTO basis for excluding pharmaceutical products falls away, and Bangladesh would be expected to examine and grant product patents for medicines on the same terms as other inventions. The domestic industry meets about 98 per cent of local demand and exported pharmaceuticals worth $213 million in fiscal year 2024-25, and industry estimates suggest about one fifth of medicines produced locally remain under patent elsewhere.[12] The commercial stakes on both sides are therefore large.

Practical steps for pharmaceutical applicants

• Originators: keep Bangladesh in the Paris-year filing plan for new molecules, disclose the INN and plan claims around the section 6(1) restrictions on new forms and uses.
• Local manufacturers: run freedom-to-operate reviews on pipeline products now, monitor published applications and prepare opposition evidence early.
• Both: track the gazette for any notification under section 6(2), and note the compulsory licensing, government-use and export provisions that remain available after graduation.[2]

Assignments, licences and compulsory licences

Recording transactions

An assignment or other change of ownership must be in writing and recorded with the Director General, and is not effective against third parties until registered. Licence agreements must also be submitted, and are unenforceable against third parties until recorded. The Act lists restrictive licence terms, and the Director General may refuse to record an agreement that contains them, subject to an appeal within two months.[2] Licensors should review technology transfer agreements against that list before signing. Our transaction due diligence practice checks recordal and title as part of any acquisition.

Compulsory licences and government use

Section 36 permits compulsory licences on grounds that include public interest in national security, nutrition, health and economic development, anti-competitive practices, abuse of rights, refusal to license on reasonable terms within four months, and essential needs such as fixed-dose combination medicines. The applicant must first seek a voluntary licence; the Director General decides within six months; and remuneration is capped at four per cent of gross sales. In a declared emergency, applications are decided within 60 days, and the government may use an invention in the public interest on similar terms.[2]

Exhaustion and permitted acts

Bangladesh applies international exhaustion: parallel importation of a patented product put on the market in any country is not infringement. The Act also exempts private non-commercial acts, research and experimentation, individual pharmacy preparation, good-faith prior use, temporary presence on foreign vessels and aircraft, and acts connected with regulatory submissions.[2] Pricing and distribution strategies must assume grey-market imports are lawful.

Enforcing a patent and challenging one

Infringement suits

A granted patent gives the owner the right to prevent others from making, using, offering, selling or importing the product, or using the process, without consent.[2] The owner sues for infringement in the competent civil court, and licensees may sue for breach of licence terms. In process cases the court may require the defendant to prove that it used a different process.[2]

Injunctions and remedies

The Act bars ex parte injunctions: the defendant must be heard. In deciding interim relief the court weighs the prima facie case, balance of convenience, irreparable harm and, in medicine cases, the effect on availability. Applications are to be decided within 30 days. Final remedies include a permanent injunction, compensation or an account of profits, or a court-ordered licence on terms the court sets, and the court may appoint a scientific adviser.[2] Falsely claiming that a product is patented attracts compensation of up to Tk 50,000.[2]

Revocation

Any person or the government may petition the District Court to revoke a patent, or raise revocation as a counterclaim in an infringement suit, on grounds that include prior claim, wrongful obtaining, lack of novelty or inventive step, insufficient disclosure, false statements and non-disclosure of biological sources or traditional knowledge. The government may also revoke a patent by gazette notification on public health or public interest grounds.[2]

Courts in 2026

The Act allows the government to establish special patent courts.[2] Separately, the Commercial Court Ordinance 2026, now the Commercial Courts Act 2026 (Act No. 23 of 2026), lists intellectual property rights among the commercial disputes heard by specialist commercial courts, with mandatory pre-suit mediation and a ninety-day trial target from the final hearing date.[13] Before issuing proceedings, check which court has jurisdiction in the relevant district and whether pre-suit mediation applies. For the wider enforcement toolkit, including customs and criminal routes for brands, see our guide to trademark infringement in Bangladesh.

Common mistakes in patent registration Bangladesh

• Waiting for a PCT national phase that does not exist, and losing priority and novelty.[4]
• Missing the thirty-six-month examination request, which leads to deemed abandonment.[2]
• Ignoring the section 15 duty to report foreign applications and updates every six months.
• Filing foreign claim sets unchanged, including claims to excluded new forms or uses of known substances.
• Omitting biological-resource and traditional-knowledge disclosures, which are both opposition and revocation grounds.
• Not recording licences and assignments, leaving them ineffective against third parties.
• Relying on old guidance that describes the 1911 Act, the Registrar or a sixteen-year term.

Patent registration Bangladesh: what to watch next

Three developments will shape filing strategy over the next year. First, the General Assembly decision on LDC graduation will fix when the pharmaceutical exclusion in section 6(2) ceases to have a WTO basis.[6] [11] Second, publication of Patent Rules and a confirmed fee schedule will settle the procedural points that the Act leaves open.[8] Third, the roll-out of commercial courts will decide where patent disputes are actually heard.[13]

For most applicants the immediate priorities are simple: file within the Paris year, docket the examination request and foreign-filing reports, and draft claims for Bangladesh rather than copying them from elsewhere. If you need help with a filing, an opposition or a licence, our corporate and commercial advisory practice can help, or contact TRW directly.

Frequently asked questions

Which law governs patent registration in Bangladesh?

The Bangladesh Patent Act 2023 (Act No. 53 of 2023), in force since 27 February 2025. It repealed the Bangladesh Patent Act 2022.[1] [3]

Can I enter Bangladesh through the PCT national phase?

No. Bangladesh is not a PCT contracting state, so you must file a national application directly, normally within the twelve-month Paris priority period.[4] [5]

How long does a Bangladesh patent last?

Twenty years from the filing or priority date, provided annual fees are paid. A utility model lasts eight years, renewable.[2]

When must I request examination?

Within thirty-six months of the filing date, with the prescribed fee. The period can be extended by three months; otherwise the application is deemed abandoned.[2]

When is a patent application published?

Eighteen months after filing, or earlier on request and payment of a fee.[2]

Can a third party oppose my patent?

Yes. Anyone may oppose after publication, and grant is barred for six months from publication. Any interested person may also oppose within twenty-four months of publication after grant.[2]

Do foreign applicants need a local agent?

Yes. A non-resident applicant must be represented by a person resident in Bangladesh, usually a patent agent appointed by power of attorney.[2]

Can medicines be patented in Bangladesh?

Not at present. Pharmaceutical products are excluded while the LDC TRIPS exemption applies, which ends on 1 January 2033 or earlier if Bangladesh graduates. A three-year deferral of graduation to 2029 was awaiting a UN General Assembly decision in October 2026.[2] [6] [11]

Does a licence need to be registered?

Yes. Licences and assignments must be recorded with the Director General and are not effective against third parties until they are.[2]

Where can I appeal a refusal?

To the High Court Division, within two months of the Director General's decision.[2]