CHAPTER II: SCOPE OF TRADE MARKS

Part One: General

 

Article 2

Trade marks as regulated by this Act shall include trade marks and service marks.

 

Article 3

The right to a trade mark is a special right which is granted by the State to the owner of a trade mark, which is registered in the General Register of Trade Marks for a certain period of time, to himself use said trade mark or to grant permission to use it to a person or jointly to several persons or a legal entity.

 

Article 4

(1) A trade mark may only be registered upon an application filed by the owner of the trade mark in good faith.

(2) The owner of a trade mark as referred to in paragraph (1) may consist of one person or several persons jointly, or a legal entity.

 

Part Two : Unregistrable Trade Marks and Rejectable Trade Marks

 

Article 5

A trade mark may not be registered if it contains one of the following elements:

  1. offensive to morality and public order;
  2. having no distinguishing elements;
  3. having become public property; or
  4. constituting information or related to the goods or services for which registration is requested.

 

Article 6

(1) An application for registration of a trade mark shall be refused by the Trade Mark Office if it has a similarity in its essential part or in its entirety with a trade mark owned by another person which has previously been registered for the same kind of goods or services.
  1. An application for registration of a trade mark shall also be refused by the Trade Mark Office if:
  1. it constitutes the name of a famous person, photograph, and name of a legal entity belonging to another person except with a written consent of the entitled parties;
  2. it constitutes an imitation or a resemblance of a name or abbreviation of a name, flag or coat of arms or a symbol, or an emblem of a state, or of a national or international institution except with a written consent of the competent authority;
  3. it constitutes an imitation or a resemblance of an official sign or seal or stamp used by a state or a government institution, except with a written consent of the competent authority;
  4. it constitutes or resembles to a creation of another person which is protected under copyright, except with a written consent of the copyright holder.

(3) The Trade Mark Office may refuse an application for registration of a trade mark which has a similarity in its essential part or in its entirety with a trade mark which is already known belonging to another person for the same kind of goods or services.

(4) The provision as referred to in paragraph (3) may also apply to any good and or service which is not of the same kind, provided that it fulfills certain requirements which shall be further regulated in a Government Regulation.

Part Three : Period of Protection of Registered Trade Marks

 

Article 7

A registered trade mark shall have legal protection for a period of 10 (ten) years retroactive to the filing date of the registration of the trade mark concerned.

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