A trademark or service mark (hereinafter referred to as the “trademark”) is any sign capable of distinguishing the products, works and/or services of one person from those of another.
The exclusive right to the trademark is initiated from the date of its registration on the State Register of Trademarks. The registered trademark is proved by a certificate.
The trademark owner has the exclusive right to use the trademark, or dispose of its exclusive right, and also to prohibit the use of the trademark by other persons. Nobody may use the trademark protected in the territory of the Republic of Belarus without having obtained an authorization from its owner.
The application for registration of a trademark is filed with the patent authority of the Republic of Belarus – the National Center of Intellectual Property that carries out examination of the sign applied to be registered as trademark to ensure that it meets the requirements for registration set out in the legislation, and decides either to register it as trademark or to refuse such registration.
The registration of a trademark in the Republic of Belarus lasts for an initial period of 10 years from the date of filing the application with the patent authority. The registration may be renewed indefinite number of times for the periods of 10 years each. The registered trademark is only valid within the territory of the Republic of Belarus in respect to the goods and/or services indicated in the certificate.
Signs which can be registered as trademarks in the Republic of Belarus are words, including proper names, combinations of colors, letters, numerals, figurative or three-dimensional signs, including shapes of goods and their packaging as well as any combination of such signs. Trademarks may be registered in any color or combination of colors.
In some countries, holograms, taste, smell or sound signs, and other non-traditional signs can be also qualified as trademarks.
According to the legislation of the Republic of Belarus those trademarks may not be registered that:
A sign will not be registered as a trademark if it:
Also, such indications may not be registered as trademarks if they are identical or confusingly similar to:
Consequences of non-use of trademarks. The term of registration of a trademark may be invalidated prematurely in respect of all or part of the goods protected by the registration in connection with non-use of the trademark without due cause during an uninterrupted period of:
Requests for premature termination of the trademark registration are considered by IP Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus.