Mikhailyuk, Sorokolat & Partners

Patent and Trademark Attorneys

Amendments to some legislative acts of Uzbekistan

Amendments to some legislative acts of Uzbekistan May 22, 2017

Amendments to some legislative acts of Uzbekistan

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan" ZRU-429 dated April 18, 2017 has amended the Civil Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Law "On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin" as well as the Law "On Competition".

The main change in the Civil Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan is introduction of Article relating to exhaustion of rights. According to the mentioned Article it is stipulated that a violation of an exclusive trademark right shall not be considered as usage of the trademark in relation to goods or services that were legally introduced into civil circulation by the trademark owner directly or upon his consent. This means that principle of national exhaustion of rights shall be applicable in Uzbekistan. Another Article specifies that a trademark may be invalidated in case of non-usage during the last five years, while the previous version of the Civil Code stated the period of any five years.

The main changes introduced into the Law "On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin" are the following:

  • along with publication of the information about trademark registration in the official bulletin of the Uzbek Patent Office now it also will be published on the web site of the Patent Office;
  • the amended law specifies that usage of trademark shall be considered not only as usage thereof in respect of the goods or services is has been registered for, but also as usage of the trademark in advertisements, printed publications, displaying during exhibitions, using on signboards, letterheads, labels, packages of goods manufactured, offered for sale, sold or otherwise introduced into civil circulation or stored and/or transported with this purpose, or imported into the territory of Uzbekistan; on the documentation related to introduction of goods into civil circulation; in a domain name.

The amended law also reflects provisions as for exhaustion of rights and non-usage of a trademark as amended in the Civil Code and mentioned above.

The main change introduced into the Law "On Competition" relates to adding a more comprehensive explanations as to what shall be regarded as unfair competition and introduction of a confusingly similar trademark. Above-mentioned amendments to the IP legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan are supposed to strengthen legal base in respect of IP rights protection in Uzbekistan as well as harmonize legislation with modern IP practice.