Laws
The law of the Republic of Armenia on trademarks (comes into force from July 1, 2010)
Chapter 1: General provisions
Article 1. Purpose of the LawThis Law regulates the relationships regarding the registration, legal protection and use of trademarks and service marks (hereinafter "trademark").
Article 2. Conceptions used in Law
The main conceptions used for the purposes of this law are the following:
Trademark – any sign represented graphically, which is used to distinguish goods and/or services of one person from goods and/or services of another person;
Person - natural person or legal entity;
Well-known trademark – a trademark, which has become widely recognised in certain social circles in the territory of the Republic of Armenia by the date of submission of an request for declaring it as a well-known trademark or by an earlier date stated in the request, for those goods and/or services, with respect to which the trademark was used;
Collective trademark – a trademark of an economic association of manufacturers or service providers, a union of legal entities or other voluntary association founded by persons in the order established by law (hereinafter "association"), which is used to denote the goods and/or services of those persons;
Certification trademark – a trademark, which is used to certify certain characteristics of goods or services;
Geographical indication – title of a territory (settlement), of a certain area or, in exceptional cases, of a country, which directly or indirectly identifies the territory, area or country of origin of a product, and the specific quality, standing or other characteristics of that product are primarily conditioned with the geographical origin, while the production and/or reprocessing and/or preparation of that product take place in that particular geographical area;
Designation of origin – the geographical name of a territory (settlement), a certain area or, in exceptional cases, a country, which serves as a designation of a product, which has originated from that territory, a certain area or country, and the quality or characteristics (qualities) are primarily or totally provided by geographical conditions, including natural and human factors, and the production, reprocessing and preparation of which take place in that particular geographical area;
Application – a package of documents filed with the State Authorized Body for the registration of a trademark, in accordance with the order established by this Law;
Applicant – a person, on behalf of whom an application was filed;
Proprietor of Trademark – a person whose trademark has been granted a protection under this Law in the Republic of Armenia;
State Register – an official database that contains data on registrations of trademarks which is maintained by the State Authorized Body in accordance with the order established by this Law, regardless of the carrier on which it is fixed;
Licence – an authorisation to use a trademark given by the proprietor of the trademark (licensor) to any other party (licensee), based on a licensing contract;
Sub-licence – an authorisation given by a licensee to a third party to use a trademark on the bases of a sublicensing contract;
Disclaimer – refusal to grant legal protection to any element of the trademark;
Paris Convention - Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed on 20 March 1883, with all subsequent amendments and supplements;
TRIPS Agreement - Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, signed in Marrakesh, Morocco on 15 April 1994;
Madrid Agreement - Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, signed on 14 April 1891, with all subsequent amendments and supplements;
Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement – Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, signed on 28 June 1989;
Administrative Instructions - Administrative Instructions for the Application of the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Protocol Relating Thereto;
Nice Classification – a classification, established for the purposes of registration of marks, based on the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks under Nice Agreement, signed on 15 June 1957, with all subsequent amendments and supplements;
International Application – an application for the international registration of a trademark, filed in accordance with the Madrid Agreement or the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement or, when needed, in accordance with both agreements.
International Registration – registration of a trademark, which is filed in accordance with the Madrid Agreement and/or the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement;
International Bureau - International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation;
International Bureau – the international bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization
International Register – an official database of information on international registrations, which is administered by International Bureau, in accordance with the order established by the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement, regardless of the carrier on which it is fixed;
Date – day, month, year;
mutatis mutandis – with the necessary changes made (within the meaning of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS));
State Authorized Body – State Body authorized by the Government of the Republic of Armenia to exercise functions concerning issues of Intellectual Property subject matters as well as carries out the functions with regard to granting protection to trademarks in accordance with this Law and its Statute;
Board of Appeal - Board established in the State Authorized Body to solve the disputes connected with legal protection of trademarks;
Notification – delivery of notification which is done by an ordered letter through notifying about delivery or other means of communication, among them electronically or by hand-out receipt;
Database – basic collection of applications of trademarks, which content is confirmed by State Authorized Body.
Article 3. Legislation on Trademarks
1. The legislation governing trademarks shall include the Civil Code of the Republic of Armenia, this Law and other legal acts.
2. If international treaties of the Republic of Armenia provide rules other than those provided for by this Law, the rules of international treaties shall apply.
Article 4. Rights of Foreign Persons
1. Foreign persons shall, in accordance with international treaties to which the Republic of Armenia is a party, or under the principle of reciprocity, enjoy the rights provided by this Law and bear liability on an equal basis with the citizens and legal entities of the Republic of Armenia.
2. For the purpose of benefiting from the principle of reciprocity, the existence of reciprocity shall be proved by the person seeking to benefit from it.
Article 5. Functions of the State Authorized Body
1. Within the frameworks of this Law the main functions of the State Authorized Body shall be the following:
(1) receiving and considering applications for the registration of trademarks, conducting examination thereof, state registration of trademarks and issuing registration certificates on behalf of the State;
(2) receiving notifications on international registrations from the International Bureau, conducting examination thereof and granting legal protection to those trademarks in the territory of the Republic of Armenia;
(3) receiving and considering requests on declaring trademarks as well-known;
(4) maintaining State Register;
(5) registration assignments, licenses, pledges of trademarks, in cases provided by law, registration of franchising;
(6) providing information on services of trademarks;
(7) representing the Republic of Armenia in the field of Intellectual Property in foreign and international organisations;
(8) acting as a receiving State Body for applications filed under the procedures of the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement;
(9) proceedings with regard to registration of trademarks and issuance of certificates;
(10) carrying out other functions within the scope of its competences.
2.The State Authorized Body shall, in accordance with international agreements of the Republic of Armenia and within the frameworks of agreements concluded with foreign organisations, carry out examination of trademarks, and shall direct the resources derived within the frameworks of those treaties to the development of the Intellectual Property protection system, including training of personnel, incentives for them, as well as to technical and technological re-equipment, which shall be carried out in accordance with the decision of the Authorized Body.
3.The State Authorized Body shall publish information concerning registered trademarks and other information relating to its activities in its “Industrial Property” official bulletin.
4. The State Authorized Body provides an opportunity for public access to the data on trademark applications and registered trademarks electronically.
5. The State Authorized Body has a Board of Appeals the Statute of which and the procedure for examination of appeals shall be approved by the Government of the Republic of Armenia. The decisions of the Board of Appeals shall be considered as final decisions of the State Authorized Body. Any decision of the Board of Appeals may be subject to judicial appeal.
Article 6. State Fees
State fees shall be charged for the purposes of implementing certain operations with regard to acquisition and protection of rights under this Law. Types of state fees, their amount and time limits for their payment, refund of state fees, decreasing the amount of fees, as well as grounds for exempting from state fees and the procedure thereof shall be provided by law.
