- European
2. The current trademark regulations in Belarus are mainly based on the Goods and Services Trademark Law No. 2181-XII of February 5, 1993. The Belarusian Intellectual Property Office is responsible for the unified management of trademark affairs.
3. Official language: Russian
4. The trademark registration in Belarus follows the principle of "application first", but in some cases, trademark rights can also be claimed based on "prior use".
5. Applicant qualifications: The applicant must be a Belarusian enterprise or institution, individual business or natural person;
6. Types of registered trademarks: Belarusian trademarks adopt the Nice classification and can accept multiple types of applications in one form. A trademark can only be applied for registration in the form of text, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional logos, color combinations, and combinations of the aforementioned elements;
7. The nature of a registered trademark: The trademark can only be used in industry and cannot be used in commerce or advertising, nor can it be used for any other purpose other than commerce or advertising. Those who apply for trademark registration with a three-dimensional logo can only use it for the goods or services themselves, and cannot use it for the packaging, containers, or descriptions of goods or services.
Belarus is a party to international intellectual property treaties such as the Paris Convention, WIPO Convention, Nairobi Treaty, Nice Agreement, and is also a member of the Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol. Therefore, trademark registration in Belarus can be processed through "single country registration" or "Madrid international registration".
The validity period is 10 years from the date of application; Renewal can be processed within 12 months before the expiration date, with a grace period of 6 months (with additional fees) and a validity period of 10 years.
If a trademark has not been used for three consecutive years, an application for revocation can be filed.
1. Applicant's name and address
2. Goods or services
3. Trademark design
4. Power of Attorney
5. To submit priority, proof of priority must be provided
Submit application documents to the Belarusian Intellectual Property Office;
The examiner will conduct a formal and substantive examination of the application to confirm whether the application documents are complete and whether the applied trademark meets the basic registration requirements; If the review fails, a rejection notice will be issued and a response will be required within the specified time;
Based on the results of substantive examination, NCIP will make a decision to register or reject the trademark application. If the applicant disagrees with the rejection decision made by NCIP, they may submit a request for review of the trademark application to NCIP within 3 months after receiving the decision. If the applicant requests an extension before the deadline mentioned above, the deadline may be extended for a maximum of 18 months.
The re examination will be conducted within 2 months after NCIP receives the request for re examination. After receiving the trademark registration payment certificate from the applicant, NCIP will register the trademark in the National Register of Trademarks and Service Marks of the Republic of Belarus within one month and issue the trademark registration certificate within the following month. Within 3 months after trademark registration, NCIP will publicly disclose information related to the registered trademark in the official gazette.
After passing the examination, the trademark will be approved for registration and a trademark registration certificate will be issued to the applicant.
Within three months from the date of the application announcement, anyone may raise an objection to the trademark registration. If the Trademark Office determines that the trademark application conflicts with the prescribed conditions, the application will be rejected.
Note: There is no objection announcement procedure in Belarus, and only a revocation application can be filed after the trademark registration.
