Official translation
THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW ON TRADE MARKS
10 October 2000 No. VIII-1981
Vilnius
(As amended by 19 February 2004 No. IX-2033)
Article 1. Purpose of the Law
1. This Law establishes legal protection of trade marks, their registration and use in the Republic of Lithuania, also the administration of the Register of Trade Marks of the Republic of Lithuania.
2. The provision of this Law have been harmonised with the legal acts of the European Union indicated in the Annex to this Law.
Article 2. Main Definitions Used in the Law
1. “Trade mark” (hereinafter - mark) means any sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of other persons and capable of being represented graphically. For the purposes of this Law, a service mark shall also be treated as a trade mark.
2. “Person” means a natural or a legal person.
3. “Collective mark” means a mark registered by a union of persons (association, union, consortium, etc.).
4. “Geographical indication” means a place name or other word or sign which directly or indirectly identify a good as originating in a certain territory, region or locality, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.
5. “Geographical origin” means a country, territory, region or locality according to which the true place of origin of a good or service may be identified.
6. “Application” means a package of documents to be presented to the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter - State Patent Bureau) according to the procedure prescribed by this law by the applicant in order to have his mark registered.
7. “Applicant” means a person or a group of persons in whose name the application for the registration of a mark is filed.
8. “Patent attorney” means a natural person registered in the Register of Patent Attorneys of the Republic of Lithuania according to the procedure established in the Patent Attorney Statute approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
9. “Proprietor of a mark” means the rights holder of a mark protected in the Republic of Lithuania in the manner laid down by this Law.
10. “License” means permission of the proprietor of the mark (licenser) granted to another person (licensee) to use a mark under the terms of a licensing contract.
11. “Sublicense” means the licensee’s permission granted to another person to use a mark under the terms of a sublicensing contract.
12. “International exhibition” means an international exhibition which is official or officially recognised according to the Convention relating to International Exhibitions, adopted in Paris on 22 November 1928, as last revised on 30 November 1972.
13. “International registration of marks” means registration of a mark in the International Register of the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Oganisation (hereinafter - the International Bureau) under the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks (hereinafter - the Madrid Protocol), adopted at Madrid on 27 June 1989.
14. “International application” means an application for the international registration of the mark, filed under the Madrid Protocol with the International Bureau through intermediary of the State Patent Bureau or any other office of the Contracting State of the Madrid Protocol.
15. “Paris Convention” means the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 20 March 1883, as revised at Stockholm on 14 July 1967 and supplemented on 28 September 1979.
16. “Nice Classification” means the international classification of goods and services, approved by the Nice Agreement concerning International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks of 15 June 1957, as revised at Stockholm on 14 July 1967, at Geneva on 13 May 1977 and amended in Geneva on 2 October 1979.
17. “Official Bulletin of the State Patent Bureau” means a periodical publication in which the State Patent Bureau makes official announcement of data relating to marks, based on this Law and Statute of the Register of Trade Marks of the Republic of Lithuania.
18. “Gazette of International Marks of the International Bureau” means the periodic publication “WIPO Gazette of International Marks” of the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, in which the International Bureau publishes data concerning international registration of marks.
19. “Regulations” means Regulations for the Registration of Trade Marks approved by the Director of the State Patent Bureau.
20. “Commercialisation” means use of goods seeking to obtain gain.
21. “Business name of a legal person” means the business name of a legal person, its branch office or representative office.
22. “Community trade mark” means a mark in respect of which registration is applied for or which is registered in accordance with the conditions contained in the Regulation on the Community trade mark.
23. “Regulation on the Community trade mark” means Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the Community trade mark.
Article 3. Scope of the Law
1. This Law shall apply to every mark intended to identify goods and/or services, for which registration is sought in the application filed at the State Patent Bureau or which is registered in the manner prescribed by this Law, or which is subject to international registration of the mark, in effect in the Republic of Lithuania.
2. This Law shall also apply to the marks recognised as well-known in the Republic of Lithuania.
3. Where the international agreements to which the Republic of Lithuania is a party prescribe requirements other than those established by this Law, the requirements of international agreements shall apply.
4. Foreign nationals shall exercise all rights specified in this Law and in legal acts regulating the implementation thereof.
Article 4. The Sign Protecting the Rights of the Proprietor of a Mark
The proprietor of a mark may inform the public of his rights to the mark by means of the sign protecting the proprietor’s rights, which consists of the letter R in a circle and is put to the right of the mark (above or below).
CHAPTER TWO
PROTECTION OF THE MARK
Article 5. Signs of which a Mark May Consist
Marks, with respect to which legal protection under this Law is applicable, may consist of signs, in particular:
1) words, personal surnames, names, artistic pseudonyms, business names of legal persons, slogans;
2) letters, numerals;
3) drawings, emblems;
4) three-dimensional form (the shape of goods, their packaging or containers);
5) colours or combinations of colours, their compositions;
6) any combination of signs specified in subparagraphs 1-5 of this Article.
Article 6. Absolute Grounds for Refusal of Registration or Invalidation of a Mark
1. A sign shall not be recognised as a mark and shall be refused registration or the registration of a registered mark shall be declared invalid if:
1) the sign cannot constitute a mark under the requirements of Article 5;
2) the sign is devoid of any distinctive character;
3) it has become customary in the current language or in the bona fide and established practices of the trade;
4) it consists exclusively of signs or indications which may serve, in trade, to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin or the time of production of the goods or of rendering of the service, the mode of production or other characteristics of the goods and/or services;
5) the sign is of such a nature as to mislead the public, for instance as to the nature, quality or geographical origin of the goods and/or services;
6) the sign is contrary to accepted principles of morality or public policy, including ethics of society and humanitarian principles;
7) the sign consists exclusively of the shape which results from the nature of the goods themselves or the shape of goods which is necessary to obtain a technical result or the shape which gives substantial value to the goods;
8) the sign consists of the official or traditional (abbreviated) state name of the Republic of Lithuania, of armorial bearings, flag or other state heraldic objects or any imitation from a heraldic point of view, also official signs and hallmarks indicating control and warranty, stamps, medals or marks of distinction, unless the permission for their use in a mark has been issued according to the established procedure by the institution authorised by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania;
9) it consists of signs the registration of which has not been authorised by the competent authorities of other states or international organisations and the registration of which is to be refused or invalidated pursuant to Article 6ter of the Paris Convention;
10) it is a sign of high symbolic value, in particular a religious symbol;
11) it contains or consists of a geographical indication with respect to goods not originating in the territory indicated, if use of the indication in the mark for such goods in the Republic of Lithuania is of such a nature as to mislead the public as to the true place of origin of the goods. The above provision shall also be applicable against a geographical indication which, although literally true as to the place of origin of the goods, falsely represent to the public that the goods originate in another territory;
12) it contains or consists of a geographical indication identifying wines for wines or spirits for spirits not originating in the place indicated by the geographical indication in question, even where the true origin of the goods is indicated or the geographical indication is used in translation or accompanied by expressions such as "kind", "type", "style", "imitation" or the like.
2. In the cases provided for in subparagraphs 2, 3 or 4 of paragraph 1 of this Article, a sign may be recognised as a mark and its registration may not be invalidated if, before the date of application for registration, after the date of filing of the application or registration of the mark and following the use which has been made of it, it has acquired distinctive character.
Article 7. Other Grounds for the Invalidation of Registration
1. Registration of a mark shall be declared invalid if the mark is:
1) identical with an earlier mark, and the goods and/or services for which the mark is registered are identical with the goods and/or services for which the earlier mark is applied for or is registered;
2) identical with or similar to the earlier mark and because of the identity or similarity of the goods and/or services covered by the marks there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public; the likelihood of confusion includes the likelihood of association with the earlier mark;
3) identical with the mark recognised as well-known in the Republic of Lithuania in the manner prescribed by Article 9 of this Law, the proprietor of which is another person, or because of its similarity to the mark it is liable to mislead the public;
4) identical with the business name of a legal person or possessing a misleading likelihood to the business name of a legal person, whose proprietor is another person who acquired the right to that name in the Republic of Lithuania prior to the date application for registration of the mark or the date of the priority, if on the day specified in the date the legal person had a right to engage in identical or similar trade to which the goods and/or services covered by the registered mark may be attributed;
5) identical with the geographical indication protected in the Republic of Lithuania or possessing a misleading likelihood thereto, except for the indication incorporated in the mark as the disclaimer, for which registration is applied for by a person entitled to use the geographical indication;
6) identical with the protected industrial design or any other object of industrial property, literary, scientific or artistic work protected under the copyright, the name or surname or artistic pseudonym of a famous person, or the portrait of another person or its likelihood to the above is misleading, except in cases where consent has been granted by the owner of the rights or the successor to them;
7) identical with, or similar to, an earlier Community trade mark and is to be, or has been, registered for goods and (or) services which are not similar to those for which the earlier Community trade mark is registered, where the earlier Community trade mark has a reputation in the European Community and where the use of the later trade mark without due cause would take unfair advantage of, or be detrimental to, the distinctive character or the repute of the earlier Community trade mark.
2. For the purposes of subparagraphs 1, 2 and 7 of paragraph 1 of this Article, “earlier mark” means:
1) a mark the date of filing of application for registration in the Republic of Lithuania of which is earlier than the date of filing of application for registration of the mark specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, taking account, where appropriate, of the priorities granted or claimed in respect of that mark;
2) a mark the date of registration whereof for the Republic of Lithuania under the Madrid Protocol is earlier than the date of filing of application for registration of the mark specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, taking account, where appropriate, of the priorities granted or claimed in respect of that mark;
3) a mark which, on the date of filing of application for registration of the mark specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, taking account, where appropriate, of the priorities granted or claimed in respect of that mark, has been recognised as well-known in the Republic of Lithuania in the manner laid down in Article 9 of this Law;
4) a Community trade mark with a date of application for registration pursuant to the Regulation on the Community trade mark, which is earlier than the date of application for registration of the trade mark referred to paragraph 1 of this Article, taking account, where appropriate, of the priority claimed or granted;
5) a Community trade mark which claims seniority, in accordance with the Regulation on the Community trade mark, from a trade mark referred to in subparagraph 1 or 2 of paragraph 2 of this Article, even when the latter trade mark has been surrendered or allowed to lapse.
3. Registration of the mark may be declared invalid where it becomes evident that the application for the registration of a mark was made in bad faith by the applicant.
Article 8. Disclaimers
1. A mark may not be constituted of elements which are ineligible for registration as separate (independent) marks.
2. Where the mark contains elements referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and where there is special reason to assume that the registration of the mark may cause doubts as to the scope of protection of the mark, the elements may, at the request of the applicant or proprietor of the mark, on the decision of the State Patent Bureau or court decision, be recognised as disclaimers.
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL PROVISIONS