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Laws

The law of the Republic of Armenia on trademarks

• Chapter 1 - General provisions
• Chapter 2 - Legal protection of trademarks
• Chapter 3 - Duration of protection of a trademark
• Chapter 4 - Termination of rights to a trademark
• Chapter 5 - Assignment of rights to a trademark
• Chapter 6 - Well known trademarks
• Chapter 7 - Collective marks and certification marks
• Chapter 8 - Registration of a trademark
• Chapter 9 - The process of registration of a trademark
• Chapter 10 - International registration of trademarks
• Chapter 11 - Transitional provisions and entry into force of this law

Chapter 9: The process of registration of a trademark

Article 43. Preliminary Examination of an Application

1. In accordance with Article 41 of this Law, within a period of one month from the date of filing the application, the State Authorised Body shall:

1) register the application, give the serial number and enter the information into the database of trademark applications;

2) conduct an examination of the application in the order established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, during the process of which it shall check whether the documents of the application meet the requirements specified in Article 40 of this Law.

2. If, in the course of the preliminary examination, it is revealed that the application does not meet the requirements established in Article 40 of this Law, the State Authorised Body notifies the applicant on the necessity to eliminate all the unconformity of documents within a period of two months, as well as on the date of filing an application and its serial number.

3. If, in the course of the preliminary examination, it is revealed that the application has been filed in accordance with the requirements established in Article 40 of this Law or, within the time period established by paragraph 2 of this Article, all unconformities mentioned in the notification have been eliminated, the State Authorised Body shall make a decision on publication of the application and carrying out substantive examination. State Authorised Body shall notify the applicant about the decision made, notifying as well the number and the date of filing the application.
4. If, in accordance with the notification provided in paragraph 2 of this Article, in the case if the unconformities are not eliminated, the State Authorised Body shall make a decision to consider the application as withdrawn and notify the applicant within a period of five days.

5. In case of failure to follow the provisions of Article 42 of this Law, concerning the claim for priority, the applicant shall be deprived of his rights for claiming priority with that application.

6. At any stage of the examination of an application, the applicant or his representative may withdraw the application filed for the registration of a trademark or restrict the list of goods and/or services contained therein.

7. At any stage of the examination of an application, provided that the state fee is paid, in the order established by law, the applicant may submit a request on making changes in the application only by amending the applicant's name or forename, surname and/or seat, as well as if there is a necessity to eliminate the omissions or clarify the wording, provided that such amendments shall not substantially change the image of the claimed mark and the list of goods and/or services for which an application was filed. The amendments in the request shall not be taken into consideration by the State Authorised Body, if such amendments shall substantially change the image of the claimed trademark or the list of goods and/or services indicated in the application, which cause the necessity to update with non-similar types of goods and/or services.

8. Goods or services may not be considered of the similar type based on registration or publication of the State Authorised Body those are included in the same class of the Nice classification.

9. Goods or services may not be considered of similar types on the grounds that in a record of registration or publication of the State Authorised Body those are included in different classes of the Nice classification.

Article 44. Publication of the Application, Third Party Remarks and Oppositions

1. The State Authorized Body shall, on the basis of the decisions on publication of the application and carrying out substantive examination in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 43 of this Law, within a period of one month following the day of the decision, publish the application in the “Industrial Property” Official Bulletin, where the number of the application and the filing date, the forename, surname or name and the seat of the applicant, the image of the trademark claimed as well as the list of the goods and/or services for which the registration of the trademark is claimed shall be published.

2. Any person may, within a period of two months following the publication of the application, present a written remark to the State Authorized Body against the registration of the claimed trademark, stating that its registration is subject to refusal on the grounds stated by Article 9 of this Law.

3. The State Authorized Body shall, within a period of five days after receiving the remark presented in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article, notify the applicant in written, inviting the latter to present his considerations within a period of one month following the day of receiving the notification. Where the applicant presents no considerations within the mentioned period the remarks shall be discussed on the bases of the existing materials.

4. The right holder of the trademark or well-known trademark, as well as holders of earlier rights in geographical indications or designations of origin, industrial designs or utility models, protected name or surname, pseudonym, portrait, the holders of earlier rights in copyrighted works in the field of literature, science and art protected in the Republic of Armenia and any other interested person may, within a period of two months following the publication of the application, present a written opposition to the State Authorised Body against the registration of the claimed trademark, stating that its registration is subject to refusal on the grounds established by Article 10 of this Law.

5. The opposition shall be deemed to be submitted if it is accompanied by the payment receipt of the state fee established by Law.

6. The State Authorised Body shall, within five days following the day of receipt of the opposition, examine it and in case of its conformity with the submission conditions stated in paragraph 4 of this Article, notify the applicant in written about the opposition, inviting him to present his considerations with a period of one month after receiving the notification. Where the applicant presents no considerations within the mentioned period the opposition shall be discussed on the bases of the existing materials.

7. The opposition not complying with the conditions stated in paragraph 4 of this Article shall be deemed not presented, and the State Authorised Body shall, within five days after receiving it, notify the person presenting it.

Article 45. Substantive Examination of a Trademark

1. The State Authorised Body shall, within a period of three months from the day of publication of the application, carry out a substantive examination of the application in the order established by the Government, with the aim to check the compliance on conditions of protection established by this Law.

2. The procedure of the mentioned time period shall be suspended upon receipt of the remark or opposition stated in paragraphs 2 and 4 of Article 44 of this Law within the time period stated in paragraph 3 and 6 of the same Article. In case of receiving more than one remark or opposition with regard to the same application, the start date of suspension shall be considered the date of sending the first one, and the end shall be considered the date of receiving the last one, conditioned with the termination of the time period stated in paragraph 3 or 6 of Article 44 of this Law .

3. The State Authorised Body examines the following according to the 1 paragraph of this Article:

1) existence of absolute grounds for refusal of registration provided by Article 9 of this Law;

2) existence of relative grounds for refusal of registration provided by Article 10 of this Law (based on information at its disposal).

3) remarks and oppositions received in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 4 of Article 44 of this Law.

4. The State Authorised Body shall carry out the examination and make decision on registration of the claimed trademark on the bases of the results of examination in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article, taking into consideration the decision (if any) mentioned in paragraph 4 of Article 46 of this Law. The State Authorised Body shall, within a period of five days, notify, in written form, the applicant or his representative (if any), as well as the person presenting remark or opposition about the decision made in the result of examination.

5. If, in the course of an examination, it reveals that:

1) a claimed mark is not subject to registration on the absolute and/or relative grounds for refusal established in Article 9 and/or Article 10 of this Law for all goods and/or services listed in the application for registration, the State Authorised Body shall make a decision on refusal the registration of the claimed mark;

2) a claimed mark is not subject to registration on absolute and/or relative grounds for refusal established in Article 9 and/or Article 10 of this Law for a part of goods and/or services listed in the application for registration, the State Authorised Body shall make a decision on registration of claimed mark, in respect of the rest of the goods and/or services listed in the application (a partial registration).

3) registration of a claimed mark, is not subject for refusal as a result of absence of absolute and/or relative grounds for refusal established in Article 9 and/or Article 10 of this Law for the goods and/or services listed in the application for registration, the State Authorised Body shall make a decision on the registration of claimed mark, in respect of all the goods and/or services listed in the application.

6. Decisions on refusals of the State Authorised Body must be justified. Decisions made in accordance with clauses 1 and 2 of paragraph 5 of this Article must indicate all the reasons and grounds.

7. Where the trademark contains an element which is not distinctive, and may not be registered separately as a trademark on the grounds established in Article 9 of this Law, and where the inclusion of said element in the trademark could raise doubts as to the extent of protection of the trademark, and where the applicant has not declared on self-protection of the trademark thereof, the State Authorised Body shall notify the applicant, suggesting, within a period of three months, to provide a declaration on the refusal of claiming of exclusive right in respect of those elements.

8. Where the applicant, within the time period provided in paragraph 7 of this Article, fails to submit the declaration or the request concerning only to a part of the said elements, the State Authorised Body shall make a decision on the refusal of registration of the trademark.

9. In accordance with paragraph 7 of this Article, in case of receiving a declaration the State Authorised Body, within the established time period, shall indicate that fact in the decision on the registration of a trademark, and together with the information on trademark registration, publish the information on non-accordance of self-protection to those elements.

10. The applicant or his representative shall have the right to submit a request, containing solid arguments, on re-examination to the State Authorised Body within two months from the day of receiving of the decision on refusal of the registration or the decision on a partly registration of a trademark.

11. The State Authorised Body shall, within a period of two months, following the day of receipt of re-examination, examine the arguments and make a decision on invalidation of the previous decision and register the trademark in respect of all or only for a part of the goods and/or services listed in the application or keep valid the decision on refusal of the registration of the trademark or the decision on a partial registration.

12. As a result of re-examination, within a period of five days, the State Authorised Body shall notify the applicant or his representative (if any), in a written form, on the decision made.
13. The application for the registration of a trademark shall not be refused before the applicant has been given the opportunity to withdraw or make changes in the application or provide facts to support the registration of the trademark.

Article 46. Examination of Remarks and Oppositions

1. The State Authorized Body shall carry out a substantive examination on considerations presenting by the applicant with respect to remarks and oppositions within the time period established by paragraphs 3 and 6 of Article 44 of this Law in compliance with the requirements stated in the Rules on examination of trademark.

2. The examination of remark shall, in case of presenting a justified request by the applicant, be suspended before the end of term mentioned in the request.

3. The examination of opposition shall be suspended in the cases and time periods as follows:

(1) an earlier application for registration of trademark or industrial design has opposed with the claimed trademark;

(2) the earlier trademark or industrial design which lies under the opposition if its registration in the process of invalidation or cancellation until a final decision on the case is made;

(3) one of the parties has submitted a justified request before the end term mentioned in it.
The examination of opposition shall be recommenced after the re-examination of the grounds of suspension.

4. The State Authorised Body shall, in the result of examination of remark and opposition, make one of the following decisions:

(1) on satisfying the remarks or oppositions in whole or in part and refusal of registration of the trademark with respect to all goods and/or services listed in the application;

(2) on refusal of remarks or oppositions.

5. The decisions mentioned in paragraph 4 of this Article shall be considered for making a decision on examination of a trademark in accordance with Article 45 of this Law, about which as well the person submitting remarks or oppositions shall be notified within a period of five days. In case of non-agreement with a mentioned decision the person submitting the remark or opposition may, dispute the registration of the trademark in the order established by Articles 22 or 23 of this Law.
Article 47. Appeals Against a Decision on Refusal of Registration of a Trademark or Partial Registration of a Trademark

An applicant or his representative may appeal the decision on refusal of the registration of the trademark or partial registration of the trademark, made by the State Authorised Body after the re-examination, applying to the Board of Appeals, within three months from the day of receiving of the decision.

2. The appeal shall be considered as filed, if provided a payment receipt of state fee established by law.

3. In the course of examination of the appeal, the Board of Appeals shall make the following decisions:

1) to uphold the appeal in whole or partly and to register the claimed trademark in respect of all or a part of the goods and/or services;

2) to refuse the appeal and leave into force the decision of re-examination on refusal or partial registration of a trademark.

4. The decision made by the Board of Appeals shall enter into force from the date of it was made. The decision of the Board of Appeals shall be sent or handed over to the appellant within a period of ten days.

5. The applicant or his representative may oppose the decision of the Board of Appeals judicially, within period of six months from the date of receiving the decision.
Article 48. Registration of a Trademark

1. In accordance with paragraphs 5 and 11 of Article 45, as well as paragraph 3 of Article 47 of this Law, if the State Authorised Body makes a decision on registration of the trademark in respect of all or a part of the goods and/or services listed in the application, it shall, within ten days, notify the applicant or his representative on the necessity to pay the state fee established by Law and to provide the payment receipt, within a period of three months from the date of receiving the notification.

2. If the State Authorised Body does not receive the payment receipt of the state fee established by law within the said period or within a later period established by Law, it shall consider the application as withdrawn and notify the applicant or his representative about the decision within a period of ten days.

3. Within one month from the date of receiving the payment receipt of the state fee established by law, the State Authorised Body shall enter the registration of the trademark in the State Register under a serial number. The image of the trademark, information on its right holder, dates of priority and registration of the trademark, the list of goods and/or services for which trademark is registered, and other information established by paragraph 2 of Article 50 of this Law.

4. Within two months from the date of registration of the trademark in the State Register the State Authorised Body shall publish information concerning the registration of the trademark in the "Industrial Property" official bulletin.

Article 49. Certificate of Registration of a Trademark

1. The State Authorized Body shall, within a period of one month after the publication of information according to paragraph 4 of Article 48 of this Law, hand (in case of necessity by post) a registration certificate to the proprietor of the trademark or his representative. The form of the certificate and the list of contained information shall be established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

2. The Certificate of registration of a trademark is a legal document certifying the entry of the trademark in the State Register and the exclusive rights of the proprietor of the mark to the registered trademark in respect of goods and/or services listed in the certificate.

3. If the proprietor of the trademark loses the certificate of registration of the trademark or it becomes unusable, the proprietor of the trademark may submit a request to the State Authorised Body requesting issuance of a duplicate of the certificate, attaching the payment receipt of the state fee established by law.

4. Where a trademark is registered in the name of more than one person the management, possession and use of the exclusive rights in trademark shall be regulated by the contract singed between those persons. In the absence of contract the disputes shall be solved judicially.
5. If the registration of a trademark is declared invalid or null, the court adjudicates to declare the certificate of registration of a trademark void.

Article 50. The State Register

1. The State Authorised Body maintains the State Register where the information provided by the Government of the Republic of Armenia as well as by this Law is entered. Information on any entry into the State Register or any subsequent change of an entry shall be published in the "Industrial Property" official bulletin.

2. The list of data to be included in the State Register and the procedure of maintenance of the State Register shall be established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia .

3. Any person shall have a right to use data contained in the State Register, and their accessibility is provided by the State Authorised Body.

4. Pursuant to a request submitted by any person, provided that the state fee established by law is paid, the State Authorised Body, in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, provides extracts from the State Register.

Article 51. Separation (division) of an application or a registration of a trademark

1. Any application, which is filed for two or more goods and/or services, can be separated, based on the applicant's request, into two or more applications (hereinafter separate applications), sharing the goods and/or services listed in the basic application among those applications. Such an application may be filed to the State Authorised Body:

1) prior to the making a decision by the State Authorised Body on the registration or refusal of registration of a trademark at any phase of examination of the application;

2) at any phase of consideration of appeals against a decision on registration of a trademark;

2. Any registration of a trademark, which has been done for two or more goods and/or services, may be separated, based on a request of the proprietor of the trademark, into two or more registrations (hereinafter separate registrations), sharing the goods and/or services listed in the basic registration among those registrations. Such a separation is allowed:

1) during any process implemented in the State Authorised Body, which is related to consideration of appeals filed by third parties against registration of a trademark;

2) during any process, which is connected to an appeal to the decision made by the State Authorised Body in accordance with the earlier procedure.

3. Separate applications and separate registrations maintain the date of basic application or the date of registration of the trademark, and the priority date, if any.

4. The payment receipt of the state fee established by law shall also be submitted together with the request on separation of an application or a trademark.

5. An application or registration of a trademark shall be considered separate since the date of making a corresponding entry in the database of applications or the State Register.

6. The State Authorised Body publishes the information on separate registrations in the "Industrial Property" official bulletin.

7. The form of request on separation of an application or separation of a registration of a trademark and the procedure for the submitting of the request shall be established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

8. In case of raising of solid doubts concerning any confidence of a sign or index pursuant to this Article, the State Authorised Body may demand relevant evidences

9. A request may not be refused unless the person who submits the request has not received an opportunity to present arguments to support separation of an application or a registration of a trademark.

Article 52. Making Changes in the Application and in the State Register

1. The applicant or the proprietor of the trademark must notify the State Authorised Body of the following:

1) changes in his name or forename, surname or the seat (address);

2) changes of his representative or his seat (address);

3) changes on detached non-essential elements of claimed or registered trademark where, in the opinion of the State Authorised Body, the change will not affect the distinctive feature of the trademark;

4) reduction of the list of goods and/or services;

5) change of the applicant or the proprietor of the trademark;

6) changes on correction of technical omissions.

2. Changes made in the request or in the State Register shall be attached to the request and submitted to the State Authorised Body by the payment receipt of the state fee established by law.

3. The form of a request on making changes in the State Register or in the application shall be established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

4. The State Authorised Body shall carry out an examination within one month from the date of receiving the request on making changes in the State Register or application, in case if the requirements provided by the paragraphs 1-3 of this Article are met, to set entries into database of applications or State Register.

5. Changes made in the State Register shall enter into force from the date of their entering and shall be published by the State Authorised Body in the "Industrial Property" official bulletin.

6. A request may not be refused unless the person who has submitted the request obtains an opportunity to provide arguments to support the changes made in the application or in the State Register.

7. The State Authorised Body shall set corresponding entries in the database of applications and the State Register and correct the omissions that it was made on its own initiative or based on a request without charging the state fee.

8. If a request submitted in accordance with this Article causes solid doubts regarding the existence of an omission or a change being made, the State Authorised Body may demand relevant evidence.

Article 53. Removal of a Trademark from the State Register

1. A trademark shall be excluded from the State Register if:

1) the registration of the trademark is declared invalid or void by a court decision;

2) the registration of the trademark has not be renewed according to the procedure provided by Article 19 of this Law;

3) the proprietor of the trademark has applied to exclude the trademark from the State Register;

4) the proprietor of the trademark has been liquidated.

2. The State Authorised Body shall exclude the trademark from the State Register, if it has received:

1) an effective court decision to declare the registration of the trademark invalid or void;

2) a written request of the proprietor of the trademark to exclude the trademark from the State Register;

3) a notice provided by the State Authorised Body, stating that the proprietor of the trademark has been liquidated.

3. In case of failure to renew the registration of the trademark according to the procedure provided by Article 19 of this Law, the trademark shall be exclude from the State Register on the initiative of the State Authorised Body.

4. Information on exclusion of the trademark from the State Register shall be published in the "Industrial Property" official bulletin.

Article 54. Restitution of Rights

1. The applicant, proprietor of a trademark or any other party of the procedure at the State Authorised Body, despite the fair undertaken measures, was unable to keep a time limit for exercising of the procedure at the State Authorised Body, may submit a request for restitution of rights if the lapse of time leads into direct loss of any right or an opportunity for appeal in accordance with this Law.

2. The request for restitution of rights shall be submitted to the State Authorised Body in a written form within two months from the date of termination caused by lapse of time, during the process of which the unexecuted actions shall be recovered. The request on restitution of rights may be submitted not later than within one year from the date of termination of lapse of time.

3. The request on restitution of rights must be argumented and include facts and evidences, which will justify the non-compliance with the time limit. The request shall be deemed to be submitted after receiving a payment receipt of the state fee established by law.

4. Provisions of this Article shall not apply with respect to those time limits, which are established in paragraphs 2 and 4 of Article 44, Article 63, as well as in paragraph 2 of this Article.

5. A restitution of rights is not allowed in the case when in the time period from the date of termination of rights in respect of an application or a trademark until the date of submission of a request for the restitution of rights another application for a registration of a trademark has been filed, which, in accordance with this Law, may be opposed.

6. Where the proprietor of a trademark whose rights were restored, may not present a claim to a third party who in respect of the trademark from the date of termination until the official publication of the information on restitution of rights, in good faith, has put goods on the market or supplied services under a sign which is identical with or similar to the trademark as to lead into confusion.

7. A third party referred to in paragraph 6 of this Article may, within a period of two months from the date of publication of the information on restitution of the rights, appeal to the Board of Appeals against the decision on restitution of rights of the proprietor of a trademark, provided that the established state fee is paid.

8. A request of a third party referred to in paragraph 6 of this Article may not be refused unless the person who has submitted the request obtains an opportunity to present arguments to support the restitution of rights.

9. In case to cause of solid doubts concerning any confidence of a sign or index pursuant to this Article, the State Authorised Body may demand relevant evidences.

Article 55. Extension of Time Limits and Restoration of Lapse of Time

1. A proprietor of the trademark or an applicant or any other party of the procedure in the State Authorised Body may:

1) Prior to the expiry of the initial term, submit a request to the State Authorised Body for the extension of time limit for the fulfilment of a procedural action;

2) In case of non-compliance with a time within two months from the date of expiry of the initial time limit, submit a request to the State Authorised Body on restoration of lapse of time and continuation of the process to provide the unexecuted action within a period of two month.

2. Extension of time pursuant to clause 1 of paragraph 1 of this Article must not exceed six months from the date of completion of established time limits.

3. The request for the fulfilment of actions provided by paragraph 1 of this Article shall be considered as submitted only if a payment receipt of the state fee established by law is received.

4. Provisions of this Article shall not apply to the time limits, which are established in paragraph 1 of this Article, as well as in paragraph 4 of Article 19 of this Law, paragraph 2 of Article 41, paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of Article 42, paragraph 2 of Article 43, paragraph 5 of Article 47, paragraphs 2 and 4 of Article 44, paragraph 5of Article 46, Article 62 and clause 1 of paragraph 2 of Article 65.

5. A request may not be refused unless the person who has submitted the request obtains an opportunity to present arguments to support the extension of time limits or restoration of lapse of time.

Article 56. Registration of a Trademark in Foreign States

Persons who have residence in the Republic of Armenia shall have the right to register a trademark in foreign countries or implement its international registration.