LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

of February 15, 2024 No. 25

About trademarks

The parliament adopts this organic law.

This law shifts:

– The directive 2004/48/EC of the European parliament and Council of April 29, 2004 about providing the intellectual property rights (the text extends to the EEA) published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 157 of April 30, 2004;

– The directive (EU) 2015/2436 European parliament and Council of December 16, 2015 about approximation of laws of state members concerning trademarks (the text extends to the EEA) published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 336/1 of December 23, 2015;

and also partially shifts:

– Regulations (EU) of 2017/1001 European parliament and Council of June 14, 2017 about the trademark of the European Union (the text extends to the EEA) published in the Official magazine of the European Union by L 154/1 of June 16, 2017.

Chapter I. Basic provisions

Article 1. Field of regulation and legal base

(1) This law is applied to individual, collective and certified trademarks which are subject to registration or the request for registration in the Republic of Moldova or the international registration which action extends to the Republic of Moldova.

(2) the Legal relations arising in the course of registration, legal protection and use of trademarks are regulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, international treaties which party is the Republic of Moldova, this law and other regulations.

(3) If international treaties in the field which party is the Republic of Moldova establish other regulations, than provided by this law regulations of international treaties are applied.

(4) Conditions of registration, giving and consideration of the request for registration of the trademark, modification, error correction, separation, consolidation, giving of objections are established by the Regulations on the procedure of giving, examination and registration of trademarks approved by the Government (further – the Provision).

Article 2. National treatment

Foreign physical persons and legal entities have the rights granted by this law on an equal basis with physical persons and legal entities of the Republic of Moldova.

Article 3. Basic concepts

For the purposes of this law the following basic concepts are used:

the agent or the representative of the owner of the trademark – the physical person or legal entity which is with the owner of the trademark in any kind the relations based on the agreement on the commercial cooperation signed in written or oral form, allowing to create the relations assigning to it, directly or directly, general obligation of trust and loyalty in relation to interests of the owner;

Madrid agreement – The Madrid agreement on the international registration of signs of April 14, 1891;

the international request – the application for the international registration of the trademark submitted according to the Madrid protocol to the Madrid agreement on the international registration of signs accepted in Madrid on June 27, 1989;

Nizzky classification – the classification system installed by the Nizzky agreement on the international classification of goods and services for registration of trademarks of June 15, 1957;

Parisian convention – The Parisian convention on protection of industrial property of March 20, 1883;

the international registration – registration of the trademark according to the Madrid agreement or the Madrid protocol to the Madrid agreement on the international registration of signs accepted in Madrid on June 27, 1989;

the collective trademark – the trademark designated thus for date of application for registration and allowing to differentiate goods and services of members of one consolidation (group of persons) having rights to the trademark from goods or services of other persons;

the patent agent – the physical person certified and registered in accordance with the established procedure representing the interests of national or foreign physical persons and legal entities and giving them necessary assistance in the field of protection of intellectual property items;

the well-known trademark – the trademark widely known in the Republic of Moldova for date of application for registration of the trademark or for date of the priority asked in the request in the corresponding target segment concerning goods or services for which the trademark, without the need for registration or use of the well-known trademark in the Republic of Moldova is applied to recognition of its reality;

the certified trademark – the trademark designated thus for date of application for registration and allowing to differentiate goods or services for which material, the method of production of goods or provision of services, quality, accuracy or other characteristics are certified by the owner of the trademark, from goods and services which have no such certification;

Protocol to the Agreement – The protocol to the Madrid agreement on the international registration of signs accepted on June 27, 1989;

The national register of trademarks – set of documentary information on the trademarks registered or submitted on registration in the Republic of Moldova according to the national procedure which is stored by the State agency on intellectual property in the automated information systems;

The international register – set of documentary information on the international registration which is kept by the International bureau which entering is provided by the Protocol to the Agreement or the Instruction to the Protocol;

The instruction to the Protocol – The instruction to the Protocol to the Agreement;

the applicant – physical person or legal entity or group of physical persons and/or legal entities, including subjects of the public law from whose name the application for registration of the trademark is submitted;

the owner – physical person or legal entity or group of physical persons and/or legal entities, including subjects of the public law on whose name the trademark is protected.

Article 4. Legal protection

The rights to the trademark are acquired and protected in the territory of the Republic of Moldova in the way:

a) registration according to provisions of this law;

b) the international registration according to the Madrid agreement or the Protocol to the Agreement which action extends to the Republic of Moldova.

Article 5. Powers of the State agency on intellectual property

(1) the State agency on intellectual property (further – the Agency) is national department in the field of protection of intellectual property and the single body in the territory of the Republic of Moldova, responsible for registration of trademarks according to provisions of this law.

(2) Agency:

a) develops and advances drafts of regulations in the field of trademarks, instructions and other materials necessary for application of this law;

b) accepts and considers requests for registration of trademarks, registers and grants registration certificates of trademarks on behalf of the state, publishes official data in the Statement of intellectual property (further – OBIS);

c) provides creation and maintaining the information database in the respective area;

d) keeps the National register of trademarks according to the legislation on registers;

e) registers agreements on concession, license agreements, pledge agreements and on franchizing concerning the rights to trademarks;

f) represents the Republic of Moldova in World Intellectual Property Organization, in other international and regional organizations for protection of intellectual property, maintains the cooperation relations with them in the field;

g) creates the Commission on consideration of disputes and the Commission on deprivation of the rights and recognition of invalidity of the trademark.

(3) the Agency carries out powers of department of origin for requests for the international registration of trademarks which country of source is the Republic of Moldova, served national or foreign applicants according to provisions of the Protocol to the Agreement.

(The Agency requests 4) When implementing of the powers provided by this law and processes personal data according to provisions of the Marine life protection act of personal data No. 133/2011.

Article 6. Representation in the Agency

(1) the Physical persons or legal entities having the permanent residence either the location, or actually operating industrial or commercial enterprise in the Republic of Moldova run business with the Agency personally or by proxy the representative.

(2) the Physical persons or legal entities which do not have neither the permanent residence, nor the location, nor really operating industrial or commercial enterprise in the Republic of Moldova are represented in the Agency to patent agents in any procedures established by this law, except for procedures of application for registration of the trademark.

(3) If any legal entity specified in part (2), it is affiliated by one of the legal entities specified in part (1), the first can run business with the Agency through the affiliate or his representative authorized by the power of attorney.

(4) in the presence of several applicants or the several third parties acting jointly the general representative is appointed.

(5) Patent agents in the field of intellectual property perform the activities according to the regulations on them approved by the Government.

Chapter II. Substantive right to trademarks

Part 1. Trademarks. The bases for refusal in registration of the trademark

Article 7. Designations which can be considered as trademarks

All designations, in particular words, including proper names, drawings, letters, figures, colors, form of goods or its packaging, sounds can be considered as trademarks provided that such designations are capable:

a) distinguish goods or services of one physical person or legal entity from goods or services of other physical persons or legal entities; and

b) to be provided in the register thus which will allow competent authorities and the public to determine clearly and precisely object of the protection provided to their owner.

Article 8. Absolute bases for refusal

(1) are not subject to registration:

a) designations which cannot be viewed as the trademark according to provisions of article 7 of this law;

b) the trademarks which do not have distinctive capability;

c) the trademarks consisting only of designations or instructions which can serve in trade for designation of type, quality, quantity, appointment, value, geographical origin, date of production of goods or rendering services, for designation of their other characteristics;

d) the trademarks consisting only of designations or instructions which became commonly accepted in the modern language or in fair and steady trade practice;

e) the designations consisting only of form or other characteristic caused by the nature of goods, form or other characteristic of goods necessary for receipt of technical result or giving to goods essential value;

f) the trademarks causing damage to image and/or interests of the state or contradicting public order or regulations of morality, in particular appeals of inhuman nature, the word, image and obscene designation, and also wounding dignity of the personality, minorities, ethnic groups, nations, their religious, national, professional feelings; ITS

g) trademarks which by the nature can mislead the public concerning the nature, quality or geographical goods origin or service;

h) trademarks which registration in the absence of permission of competent authorities it shall be refused according to provisions of article 6 of the Parisian convention;

i) the trademarks which are not subject to registration according to provisions of the national legal system or international agreements, one of the parties of which is the Republic of Moldova, the names of places of origin, geographical instructions providing protection;

j) the trademarks which are not subject to registration according to provisions of the national legal system or international agreements, one of the parties of which is the Republic of Moldova, the traditional designations providing protection for wines;

k) the trademarks which are not subject to registration according to provisions of the national legal system or international agreements, one of the parties of which is the Republic of Moldova, the guaranteed traditional products providing protection;

l) the trademarks consisting or reproducing in the essential elements earlier name of grade of plant registered according to the national legal system or international agreements of one of the parties of which the Republic of Moldova, providing protection of the property rights to grade of plant and belonging to plant varieties of the same or closely related type is;

m) trademarks in that measure in what their use contradicts national regulations, other than belonging to trademarks;

n) the trademarks containing designations of high symbolical value, in particular religious symbol;

o) trademarks in which without the permission of competent authorities signs, emblems and badges, except those which are protected according to article 6 of the Parisian convention and which are of public interest are used;

p) trademarks concerning which the application for registration was submitted from bad faith.

(2) Provisions of Items b) – d) parts (1) are not applied if the applicant provides enough proofs that the trademark acquired as a result of use distinctive capability concerning the declared goods or services before date of application for its registration.

(3) part Provisions (2) are applied also if the distinctive capability was acquired after date of application for registration, but before registration date of the trademark.

(4) the Geographical instructions and names of places of origin protected in the territory of the Republic of Moldova can join in the trademark if the applicant has right to use the protected geographical specifying or the name of the place of origin. Geographical instructions of other states can join in the trademark if it does not contradict provisions of this law and there is registration in country of source. The protected geographical instructions and names of places of origin included in the trademark are unprotected elements of the trademark.

Article 9. Relative bases for refusal

(1) On objection of the owner of earlier trademark in registration of the asked trademark refuses if:

a) it is identical to earlier trademark, and goods or services on which the trademark is declared are identical to concerning what protection of earlier trademark is performed;

Disclaimer! This text was translated by AI translator and is not a valid juridical document. No warranty. No claim. More info