Trademarks In The Republic Of Kazakhstan. Fundamentally New Principles Of Functioning Of The System Of Protection Of Trademarks Entered Into Force On July 3, 2018

On 03.07.2018 came into force the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Improving Legislation in the Sphere of Intellectual Property" dated June 20, 2018 (hereinafter the "Law").

These changes not only make adjustments to legislation on intellectual property (hereinafter "IP"), but fundamentally change the existing system. Thus, the Law amends 12 Codes and laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan ("RK") aimed at improving IP legislation, simplifying the procedure for registration of IP objects, removing legal gaps, as well as the exclusion of norms that create administrative barriers in the field of intellectual property protection.

In general, the Law provides for changes in relation to almost all objects of intellectual property. In this publication we will examine the regulation of trademarks.

One of the historical changes is the introduction of one-level system of registration instead of the existing two-level system of registration of intellectual property objects, which included the RSE "National Institute of Intellectual Property" of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter referred to as "the Office") and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter "MJ RK"). Only the regulatory functions remain for MJ RK, except for the well-known trademarks.

From the basic innovations of the Law, in our opinion, it is possible to highlight the following:

- The regional principle of exhaustion of rights. This principle was established in the framework of supranational legislation in the field of trademarks and is now directly enshrined in the national legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. - Reduction of terms. The formal examination of the application for a trademark is reduced to 10 working days instead of 1 month, and the substantive examination - up to 7 months instead of 9 months from the date of filing an application for registration of a trademark, etc. - Certificate to the trademark. The right to a trademark is now certified by a certificate, before making these changes, the exclusive right was confirmed only by an extract from the State Register of Trademarks of the Republic of Kazakhstan. - Publication of...