Bishkek
January 14, 1998 # 7

The Law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Places of Origin of Goods"

Section I. General provisions
Section II. Trademark and service mark
Section III. Registration of a trademark
Section IV. Collective mark
Section V. Use of a trademark
Section VI. Transfer of a trademark
Section VII. Termination of a legal protection
Section VIII. Appellation of a place of origin
Section IX. Registration and granting of the right to use appellation of origin
Section X. The use of the appellation of origin
Section XI. Termination of a legal protection of the appellation of the place of origin
Section XII. Final provisions

Contents. Click here to return to contents

Section II.
TRADEMARK AND SERVICE MARK

Article 2. Trademark and Service Mark

A trademark and service mark (hereinafter referred to as trademark) shall be designations that can distinguish goods and services of some legal entities or natural persons from the similar goods or services (hereinafter referred to as goods) of the other legal entities or natural persons.

A certificate of registration shall be issued for a registered trademark. A certificate shall certify the priority of a trademark, exclusive right of the owner of a trademark with respect to the goods specified in the certificate.

A trademark may be expressed in the form of:

1) words and word combinations;
2) depiction, figures and symbols;
3) letters, numbers and their combinations;
4) three-dimensional forms;
5) combination of the all enumerated forms;
6) or any other visual designations or a combination of these designations.

A trademark may be registered in any color or combination of colors.

The nature of goods to which a trademark is applied, should not be an obstacle for registration of a trademark.

The present Law shall not be applicable to holographic marks except visually different holographic marks and marks that are not comprised of visual designation, to sound and olfactory marks in particular.

Article 3. Legal Protection of a Trademark. Exclusive Right to a Trademark

Legal protection of a trademark in the Kyrgyz Republic shall be granted on the basis of the State registration thereof in the order established by this Law or by virtue of international agreements of the Kyrgyz Republic.

A trademark may be registered on the name of a legal entity as well as natural person conducting entrepreneurship activity.

The owner of a trademark shall have the exclusive right to use or dispose a trademark, as well as prohibit its exploitation by other persons. No person shall have the right to use a trademark in the Kyrgyz Republic without the permission of its owner.

Infringement of the right of a trademark owner shall be recognized unauthorized manufacture, use, import, offer for sale, sale or other introduction into an economic turnover or storage of a trademark with the same purpose or goods marked with that trademark or designation similar to it to the extent likely to cause confusion with respect to similar goods.

Article 4. Absolute Grounds for Refusal in Registration

No registration shall be allowed for the trademarks which consist only of designations:

1) that cannot be distinguished;
2) represent state coats of arms, banners or emblems;
3) official names of countries, emblems, abbreviated or full names of international organizations, official, control, guarantee and assay marks, seals, awards and other marks of distinction or those similar to them to the extent likely to cause confusion. Such designations may be included in a trademark as non-protected elements, if there is a consent of an appropriate competent body or the owner;
4) come into general use as designations of goods of a certain kind;
5) generally accepted terms and symbols for the goods regarding to which terms and symbols are suggested to be used as marks;
6) pointing to the appearance, quality, quantity, properties, purpose, value of products as well as to the place and time of their manufacture or sale.

Designations indicated in subparagraphs 2, 4, 5, 6 of the first paragraph of this Article may be included into a trademark as unprotected elements if they have no dominating position in it.

The following designations shall not be allowed to be registered as trademarks or elements thereof:

1) the ones which are false or misleading for the consumer with respect to the good or its manufacturer;
2) the ones contradicting public interests, principles of humanity and morals.

Article 5. Other Grounds for Refusal in Registration

The following designations which are identical or similar to the extent likely to cause confusion can not be registered as trademarks:

1) trademarks earlier registered or filed for registration in the Kyrgyz Republic on the name of another person with respect to the similar goods which have an earlier priority;
2) other persons' trademarks protected without registration by virtue of international agreements of the Kyrgyz Republic;
3) trademarks well-known in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. The well-known criterion for a trademark are established by the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Shall not be registered as trademarks the following designations which reproduce:

1) trade names (or a part thereof) and names of selective achievements, known in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic and owned by other persons who obtained the right for these names before the receipt of an application for a trademark;
2) appellation of places of origin of goods;
3) names of works of science, literature and art or fragments thereof known in the Kyrgyz Republic, without consent of the owner copyright or his legal successors;
4) names, surnames, pseudonyms and derivatives thereof, portraits and facsimiles of famous persons without the consent of these persons, their heirs, in the event if such designations are the property of history and culture of the Kyrgyz Republic - without permission of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic;
5) industrial designs, rights to which belong to the other persons in the Kyrgyz Republic, if an industrial design has the earliest priority as compared to an application for the registration of a trademark.

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