- Law on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin (of March 20, 2000)
- PART ITRADEMARKS AND SERVICE MARKS
- Chapter 1Trademarks, Service Marks and their Legal Protection
- Trademarks and Service Marks
- Legal Protection of a Trademark
- Certificate for Registration of a Trademark
- Exclusive Right to a Trademark
- Types of Trademark
- Chapter 2Registration of a Trademark
- Application for Registration of a Trademark
- Priority of a Trademark
- Examination of an Application
- Preliminary Examination
- Examination of a Claimed Designation
- Absolute Grounds for Refusing to Register a Trademark
- Other Grounds for Refusing to Register a Trademark
- Appeals Against Examiners’ Decisions and Renewal of Deadlines Missed by Applicants
- Registration of a Trademark
- Issue of a Trademark Certificate
- Period of Validity of Trademark Registration
- Entry of Amendments in the Register
- Publication of Registration Information
- Registration of a Trademark Abroad
- Chapter 3Collective Mark
- Chapter 4Use of a Trademark
- Chapter 5Transfer of a Trademark
- Chapter 6Termination of Legal Protection of a Trademark
- PART IIAPPELLATION OF ORIGIN
- Chapter 7Appellation of Origin and its Legal Protection
- Chapter 8Registration and Provision of the Rightto Use an Appellation
- An Application for Registration and the Right to Use an Appellation
- Examination of an Application
- Appeal Against an Examiner’s Decision and Renewal of Deadlines Missed by the Applicant
- Grounds for Refusing to Register an Appellation
- Registration of an Appellation and Issue of a Certificate for the Right to use the Appellation
- Period of Validity of a Certificate for the Right to use an Appellation
- Inclusion of Amendments in the Register
- Publication of Information on the Registration and Provision of the Right to Use an Appellation
- Registration of an Appellation Abroad
- Chapter 9Use of an Appellation
- Chapter 10Termination of Legal Protection of an Appellation
- PART IIIFINAL PROVISIONS
- Chapter 1Trademarks, Service Marks and their Legal Protection
- PART ITRADEMARKS AND SERVICE MARKS
Law on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin * (of March 20, 2000)
TABLE OF CONTENTS **
Article
Part I: Trademarks and Service Marks
Chapter 1: Trademarks, Service Marks and their Legal Protection
Trademarks and Service Marks..................................... 1
Legal Protection of a Trademark................................... 2
Certificate for Registration of a Trademark.................. 3
Exclusive Right to a Trademark.................................... 4
Types of Trademark...................................................... 5
Chapter 2: Registration of a Trademark
Application for Registration of a Trademark................ 6
Priority of a Trademark................................................. 7
Examination of an Application..................................... 8
Preliminary Examination.............................................. 9
Examination of a Claimed Designation......................... 10
Absolute Grounds for Refusing to Register a Trademark..................................................................... 11
Other Grounds for Refusing to Register a Trademark... 12
Appeals Against Examiners’ Decisions and Renewal of Deadlines Missed by Applicants............................... 13
Registration of a Trademark.......................................... 14
Issue of a Trademark Certificate................................... 15
Period of Validity of Trademark Registration............... 16
Entry of Amendments in the Register........................... 17
Publication of Registration Information........................ 18
Registration of a Trademark Abroad............................. 19
Chapter 3: Collective Mark
Collective Mark............................................................ 20
Registration of a Collective Mark................................. 21
Chapter 4: Use of a Trademark
Use of a Trademark and the Consequences of its Non-Use................................................................................ 22
Restriction of Rights of a Trademark Owner................ 23
Preventive Labeling...................................................... 24
Chapter 5: Transfer of a Trademark
Assignment of a Trademark.......................................... 25
Permission to Use a Trademark.................................... 26
Registration of an Agreement to Assign a Trademark and a Licensing Agreement........................................... 27
Chapter 6: Termination of Legal Protection of a Trademark
Recognition of Trademark Registration as Invalid........ 28
Cancellation of Registration and Re-registration of a Trademark..................................................................... 29
Part II: Appellation of Origin
Chapter 7: Appellation of Origin and its Legal Protection
Appellation of Origin.................................................... 30
Legal Protection of an Appellation............................... 31
Chapter 8: Registration and Provision of the Right to Use an Appellation
An Application for Registration and the Right to Use an Appellation............................................................... 32
Examination of an Application..................................... 33
Appeal Against an Examiner’s Decision and Renewal of Deadlines Missed by the Applicant.......................... 34
Grounds for Refusing to Register an Appellation......... 35
Registration of an Appellation and Issue of a Certificate for the Right to use the Appellation............. 36
Period of Validity of a Certificate for the Right to Use an Appellation............................................................... 37
Inclusion of Amendments in the Register..................... 38
Publication of Information on the Registration and Provision of the Right to Use an Appellation................ 39
Registration of an Appellation Abroad......................... 40
Chapter 9: Use of an Appellation
Use of an Appellation................................................... 41
Preventive Marking....................................................... 42
Chapter 10: Termination of Legal Protection of an Appellation
Recognition of Registration of an Appellation and of the Certificate for the Right to Use the Appellation as Invalid........................................................................... 43
Recognition of the Lapse of Registration of an Appellation and Validity of a Certificate for the Right to Use the Appellation................................................... 44
Part III: Final Provisions
State Fees...................................................................... 45
Settlement of Disputes Relating to the Implementation of this Law.................................................................... 46
Liability for the Unlawful Use of a Trademark and an Appellation.................................................................... 47
The Rights of Foreign Individual Manufacturers and Legal Persons................................................................ 48
International Agreements.............................................. 49
Transitional Provisions................................................. 50
This Law shall govern relations concerning the registration, legal protection and use of trademarks, service marks and appellations of origin. PART I TRADEMARKS AND SERVICE MARKS
1. Trademarks and service marks (hereinafter “trademark”) represent the designation by means of which the goods and services of a particular legal entity or individual manufacturer are correspondingly distinguished from the same type of goods and services (hereinafter “goods”) of other legal entities and individual manufacturers.
2. Legal protection for a trademark in the Republic of Armenia shall be granted on the basis of State registration (hereinafter “registration”) of the trademark, in accordance with the procedure established by this Law, or pursuant to the international agreements to which the Republic of Armenia is party.
Rights relating to trademarks shall be protected by the law.
3.—(1) A trademark may be registered in the name of a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur.
(2) The owner of a registered trademark shall be granted a certificate of registration for the trademark (hereinafter “trademark certificate”).
(3) A trademark certificate shall attest to the fact that the trademark has been registered, its priority and also the exclusive right to use the trademark in relation to the goods indicated in the trademark certificate.
4.—(1) The exclusive right to a trademark shall be valid from the time of its registration.
(2) The owner of a trademark shall have the exclusive right to own, use and dispose of the mark, and also to prohibit its use by other persons. No person shall have the right to use a trademark protected in the Republic of Armenia, without the authorization of the owner of the trademark.
(3) The owner of a registered trademark shall have the exclusive right to prohibit third parties from producing, using, importing, selling and proposing for sale a trademark or a good designated by that mark, in the process of commercial activity, without his authorization, and also the marketing by other means or storage for the same purpose of the good designated by the mark or of the trademark, as well as the performance of the acts envisaged by Article 22(1) and (2) of this Law, if the trademark is identical or similar to the point of confusion with his trademark and is used in relation to goods
(a) registered under his trademark;
(b) of the same type as goods registered under his trademark.
(4) It shall be forbidden to use, in the process of commercial activity, a particular designation representing a reproduction, imitation or translation of a designation, similar to the point of confusion with a trademark recognized and generally known in the Republic of Armenia in relation to specific goods, and which may be used without the owner’s permission in relation to
(a) identical goods or those of the same type;
(b) goods not of the same type which, by creating a misleading impression, force a link to be assumed between these goods and the owner of a well-known trademark, provided that such use may harm the latter’s interests.
(5) These provisions shall also extend to cases where an essential part of a designation is a reproduction of such a well-known trademark or its imitation to the point of confusion.
(6) If a trademark is registered in the Republic of Armenia in the name of an agent or representative of the owner of the trademark, protected in one of the States parties to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (hereinafter the “Paris Convention”), without the owner’s consent, the owner shall be entitled to prohibit the agent or representative from using the trademark without his authorization, if he is unable to provide proof justifying his actions.
5.—(1) Verbal (including words, numbers, letters and names), pictorial, three-dimensional, sound and any other form of designations, or a combination thereof, may be registered as trademarks.
(2) A trademark may be registered in any color or combination of colors.
6.—(1) An application for registration of a trademark (hereinafter “an application”) shall be filed with the Patent Office of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter “the Office”) by a legal entity or an individual manufacturer (hereinafter—up to the end of this Part—“an applicant”), in whose name registration of the trademark is requested.
(2) An application may also be filed through a patent attorney registered with the Office.
(3) Foreign legal entities and individual manufacturers shall manage affairs relating to the registration of trademarks, through patent attorneys registered with the Office. The authority of a patent attorney shall be confirmed by a power of attorney issued by the person in whose name registration of the trademark is requested.
(4) The procedure for certifying and registering patent attorneys shall be established by the Office.
(5) The activities of patent attorneys shall be governed by the Statute approved by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
(6) An application shall relate to one trademark only and shall contain:
(a) a request for registration of the trademark, including the applicant’s name and his place of residence or business;
(b) an image of the claimed designation and its description;
(c) a list of goods grouped in accordance with the classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services, for which registration of the mark is claimed.
(7) The application shall be accompanied by a:
(a) receipt for payment of the requisite fee for filing the application and carrying out an examination;
(b) the regulations for the collective mark, where an application is filed for such a mark;
(c) a document confirming the authority of a patent attorney (power of attorney), if an application is filed through such an attorney.
(8) The application shall be filed in Armenian. The documents attached to the application may be submitted in another language. In this case, applicants from the Republic of Armenia shall submit their translation into Armenian together with the application and foreign applicants—within two months of the application filing date.
(9) The requirements for application documents shall be established by the Office.
7.—(1) The priority of a trademark shall be established according to the year, month and day (hereinafter “ the date”) on which an application is filed with the Office.
(2) The priority of a trademark may be established according to the date on which the first application is filed in one of the States parties to the Paris Convention (convention priority), if the application is filed with the Office within six months of the date in question.
(3) The priority of a mark displayed among the exhibits at official, or officially recognized, international exhibitions, on the territory of one of the States parties to the Paris Convention, may be established according to the date on which the exhibit began to be displayed at the exhibition (exhibition priority), if the application is filed with the Office within six months of the date in question.
(4) An applicant wishing to enjoy the right of convention or exhibition priority shall, when filing an application or within two months of the day on which the application is filed with the authorized State body, inform that body accordingly and shall attach documents attesting to the right to this requirement, or submit these documents to the Office within three months of the date on which the application is filed.
(5) The priority of a trademark may be established according to the priority date of a trademark having international registration, in accordance with the international agreements to which the Republic of Armenia is a party.
(6) If, in the course of an examination, it is established that designations submitted for registration, which are identical or similar to the point of confusion, and coincide partially or fully with a list of goods, have the same priority date, a designation (or one of the designations similar to the point of confusion) may be registered in relation to the goods coinciding, in the name of one of the applicants, in accordance with an agreement reached between the applicants.
Applications relating to goods coinciding shall, within six months of the day on which the Office receives appropriate notification, be considered to have been withdrawn, if the applicants do not reach agreement on the registration of the designation relating to the goods coinciding.
8.—(1) The examination of an application, including a preliminary examination and an examination of the claimed designation, shall be carried out by the Office.
(2) An applicant may, within two months of the day on which the application is filed until a decision is taken thereon, at his own initiative make additions, clarifications and corrections to the application materials.
(3) An applicant may, in the course of an examination until a decision is taken to register a designation, submit a request to change the applicant for the application in question.
(4) If additional materials substantially change the designation submitted for registration, or if the list of goods stated in the application includes goods that are not of the same type, those materials will not be considered and may be filed by the applicant as an independent application.
(5) During an examination the Office may request the applicant to provide additional materials without which the examination cannot be carried out. The additional materials shall be submitted within two months of the day on which the relevant request is received.
(6) The period in question may, at the applicant’s request, be extended by a maximum of six months, provided the request to extend the period has been received before the end of the two months referred to above. Where the requested materials are not submitted within the
Article
Part I: Trademarks and Service Marks
Chapter 1: Trademarks, Service Marks and their Legal Protection
Trademarks and Service Marks..................................... 1
Legal Protection of a Trademark................................... 2
Certificate for Registration of a Trademark.................. 3
Exclusive Right to a Trademark.................................... 4
Types of Trademark...................................................... 5
Chapter 2: Registration of a Trademark
Application for Registration of a Trademark................ 6
Priority of a Trademark................................................. 7
Examination of an Application..................................... 8
Preliminary Examination.............................................. 9
Examination of a Claimed Designation......................... 10
Absolute Grounds for Refusing to Register a Trademark..................................................................... 11
Other Grounds for Refusing to Register a Trademark... 12
Appeals Against Examiners’ Decisions and Renewal of Deadlines Missed by Applicants............................... 13
Registration of a Trademark.......................................... 14
Issue of a Trademark Certificate................................... 15
Period of Validity of Trademark Registration............... 16
Entry of Amendments in the Register........................... 17
Publication of Registration Information........................ 18
Registration of a Trademark Abroad............................. 19
Chapter 3: Collective Mark
Collective Mark............................................................ 20
Registration of a Collective Mark................................. 21
Chapter 4: Use of a Trademark
Use of a Trademark and the Consequences of its Non-Use................................................................................ 22
Restriction of Rights of a Trademark Owner................ 23
Preventive Labeling...................................................... 24
Chapter 5: Transfer of a Trademark
Assignment of a Trademark.......................................... 25
Permission to Use a Trademark.................................... 26
Registration of an Agreement to Assign a Trademark and a Licensing Agreement........................................... 27
Chapter 6: Termination of Legal Protection of a Trademark
Recognition of Trademark Registration as Invalid........ 28
Cancellation of Registration and Re-registration of a Trademark..................................................................... 29
Part II: Appellation of Origin
Chapter 7: Appellation of Origin and its Legal Protection
Appellation of Origin.................................................... 30
Legal Protection of an Appellation............................... 31
Chapter 8: Registration and Provision of the Right to Use an Appellation
An Application for Registration and the Right to Use an Appellation............................................................... 32
Examination of an Application..................................... 33
Appeal Against an Examiner’s Decision and Renewal of Deadlines Missed by the Applicant.......................... 34
Grounds for Refusing to Register an Appellation......... 35
Registration of an Appellation and Issue of a Certificate for the Right to use the Appellation............. 36
Period of Validity of a Certificate for the Right to Use an Appellation............................................................... 37
Inclusion of Amendments in the Register..................... 38
Publication of Information on the Registration and Provision of the Right to Use an Appellation................ 39
Registration of an Appellation Abroad......................... 40
Chapter 9: Use of an Appellation
Use of an Appellation................................................... 41
Preventive Marking....................................................... 42
Chapter 10: Termination of Legal Protection of an Appellation
Recognition of Registration of an Appellation and of the Certificate for the Right to Use the Appellation as Invalid........................................................................... 43
Recognition of the Lapse of Registration of an Appellation and Validity of a Certificate for the Right to Use the Appellation................................................... 44
Part III: Final Provisions
State Fees...................................................................... 45
Settlement of Disputes Relating to the Implementation of this Law.................................................................... 46
Liability for the Unlawful Use of a Trademark and an Appellation.................................................................... 47
The Rights of Foreign Individual Manufacturers and Legal Persons................................................................ 48
International Agreements.............................................. 49
Transitional Provisions................................................. 50
This Law shall govern relations concerning the registration, legal protection and use of trademarks, service marks and appellations of origin. 1. Trademarks and service marks (hereinafter “trademark”) represent the designation by means of which the goods and services of a particular legal entity or individual manufacturer are correspondingly distinguished from the same type of goods and services (hereinafter “goods”) of other legal entities and individual manufacturers.
2. Legal protection for a trademark in the Republic of Armenia shall be granted on the basis of State registration (hereinafter “registration”) of the trademark, in accordance with the procedure established by this Law, or pursuant to the international agreements to which the Republic of Armenia is party.
Rights relating to trademarks shall be protected by the law.
3.—(1) A trademark may be registered in the name of a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur.
(2) The owner of a registered trademark shall be granted a certificate of registration for the trademark (hereinafter “trademark certificate”).
(3) A trademark certificate shall attest to the fact that the trademark has been registered, its priority and also the exclusive right to use the trademark in relation to the goods indicated in the trademark certificate.
4.—(1) The exclusive right to a trademark shall be valid from the time of its registration.
(2) The owner of a trademark shall have the exclusive right to own, use and dispose of the mark, and also to prohibit its use by other persons. No person shall have the right to use a trademark protected in the Republic of Armenia, without the authorization of the owner of the trademark.
(3) The owner of a registered trademark shall have the exclusive right to prohibit third parties from producing, using, importing, selling and proposing for sale a trademark or a good designated by that mark, in the process of commercial activity, without his authorization, and also the marketing by other means or storage for the same purpose of the good designated by the mark or of the trademark, as well as the performance of the acts envisaged by Article 22(1) and (2) of this Law, if the trademark is identical or similar to the point of confusion with his trademark and is used in relation to goods
(a) registered under his trademark;
(b) of the same type as goods registered under his trademark.
(4) It shall be forbidden to use, in the process of commercial activity, a particular designation representing a reproduction, imitation or translation of a designation, similar to the point of confusion with a trademark recognized and generally known in the Republic of Armenia in relation to specific goods, and which may be used without the owner’s permission in relation to
(a) identical goods or those of the same type;
(b) goods not of the same type which, by creating a misleading impression, force a link to be assumed between these goods and the owner of a well-known trademark, provided that such use may harm the latter’s interests.
(5) These provisions shall also extend to cases where an essential part of a designation is a reproduction of such a well-known trademark or its imitation to the point of confusion.
(6) If a trademark is registered in the Republic of Armenia in the name of an agent or representative of the owner of the trademark, protected in one of the States parties to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (hereinafter the “Paris Convention”), without the owner’s consent, the owner shall be entitled to prohibit the agent or representative from using the trademark without his authorization, if he is unable to provide proof justifying his actions.
5.—(1) Verbal (including words, numbers, letters and names), pictorial, three-dimensional, sound and any other form of designations, or a combination thereof, may be registered as trademarks.
(2) A trademark may be registered in any color or combination of colors.
6.—(1) An application for registration of a trademark (hereinafter “an application”) shall be filed with the Patent Office of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter “the Office”) by a legal entity or an individual manufacturer (hereinafter—up to the end of this Part—“an applicant”), in whose name registration of the trademark is requested.
(2) An application may also be filed through a patent attorney registered with the Office.
(3) Foreign legal entities and individual manufacturers shall manage affairs relating to the registration of trademarks, through patent attorneys registered with the Office. The authority of a patent attorney shall be confirmed by a power of attorney issued by the person in whose name registration of the trademark is requested.
(4) The procedure for certifying and registering patent attorneys shall be established by the Office.
(5) The activities of patent attorneys shall be governed by the Statute approved by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
(6) An application shall relate to one trademark only and shall contain:
(a) a request for registration of the trademark, including the applicant’s name and his place of residence or business;
(b) an image of the claimed designation and its description;
(c) a list of goods grouped in accordance with the classes of the International Classification of Goods and Services, for which registration of the mark is claimed.
(7) The application shall be accompanied by a:
(a) receipt for payment of the requisite fee for filing the application and carrying out an examination;
(b) the regulations for the collective mark, where an application is filed for such a mark;
(c) a document confirming the authority of a patent attorney (power of attorney), if an application is filed through such an attorney.
(8) The application shall be filed in Armenian. The documents attached to the application may be submitted in another language. In this case, applicants from the Republic of Armenia shall submit their translation into Armenian together with the application and foreign applicants—within two months of the application filing date.
(9) The requirements for application documents shall be established by the Office.
7.—(1) The priority of a trademark shall be established according to the year, month and day (hereinafter “ the date”) on which an application is filed with the Office.
(2) The priority of a trademark may be established according to the date on which the first application is filed in one of the States parties to the Paris Convention (convention priority), if the application is filed with the Office within six months of the date in question.
(3) The priority of a mark displayed among the exhibits at official, or officially recognized, international exhibitions, on the territory of one of the States parties to the Paris Convention, may be established according to the date on which the exhibit began to be displayed at the exhibition (exhibition priority), if the application is filed with the Office within six months of the date in question.
(4) An applicant wishing to enjoy the right of convention or exhibition priority shall, when filing an application or within two months of the day on which the application is filed with the authorized State body, inform that body accordingly and shall attach documents attesting to the right to this requirement, or submit these documents to the Office within three months of the date on which the application is filed.
(5) The priority of a trademark may be established according to the priority date of a trademark having international registration, in accordance with the international agreements to which the Republic of Armenia is a party.
(6) If, in the course of an examination, it is established that designations submitted for registration, which are identical or similar to the point of confusion, and coincide partially or fully with a list of goods, have the same priority date, a designation (or one of the designations similar to the point of confusion) may be registered in relation to the goods coinciding, in the name of one of the applicants, in accordance with an agreement reached between the applicants.
Applications relating to goods coinciding shall, within six months of the day on which the Office receives appropriate notification, be considered to have been withdrawn, if the applicants do not reach agreement on the registration of the designation relating to the goods coinciding.
8.—(1) The examination of an application, including a preliminary examination and an examination of the claimed designation, shall be carried out by the Office.
(2) An applicant may, within two months of the day on which the application is filed until a decision is taken thereon, at his own initiative make additions, clarifications and corrections to the application materials.
(3) An applicant may, in the course of an examination until a decision is taken to register a designation, submit a request to change the applicant for the application in question.
(4) If additional materials substantially change the designation submitted for registration, or if the list of goods stated in the application includes goods that are not of the same type, those materials will not be considered and may be filed by the applicant as an independent application.
(5) During an examination the Office may request the applicant to provide additional materials without which the examination cannot be carried out. The additional materials shall be submitted within two months of the day on which the relevant request is received.
(6) The period in question may, at the applicant’s request, be extended by a maximum of six months, provided the request to extend the period has been received before the end of the two months referred to above. Where the requested materials are not submitted within the PART I TRADEMARKS AND SERVICE MARKS