World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2012

BELARUS

TO PROTECT AND ENFORCE TRADEMARKS

Svetlana Koroliova LexPatent LLC

The Belarus system Sovereign Belarus passed its national Law on Trademarks and Service Marks on February 5, 1993. Under Article 2 of this law, trademarks are legally protected either upon their registration with the National Center of Intellectual Property (NCIP) or under international treaties to which Belarus is a party (Belarus participates in both the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol). T e NCIP examines trademark applications for formal requirements and on absolute and relative grounds. Pending applications are not published and cannot be opposed by third parties. Protection is granted on a fi rst-to-fi le basis.

One of the most distinctive features of the Belarusian trademark system is the enforcement of granted rights. In Belarus, all disputes relating to IP, irrespective of the parties involved, are considered by the Intellectual Property Chamber of the Supreme Court. T is specialised court, unique in the whole post-Soviet territory, began operating in March 2000.

Regarding trademarks, it is within the chamber’s competence to resolve: • Trademark infringement actions; • Trademark invalidations;

• Complaints against the decisions of the Appeal Board of the NCIP, which deals with oppositions against registered trademarks and appeals against trademark examination decisions; and

• Complaints against the decisions of the Antimonopoly Body, which is empowered to establish facts of unfair competition.

It will take the chamber no longer than two months from the date that an action was fi led to resolve it. But if a foreign company or a natural person who is domiciled in a foreign state participates in the case, it shall be considered within one year. Although the term of trial for foreign natural and legal persons is considerably longer, about a quarter of all of

48 World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2012

the chamber’s cases involve foreign companies (coming, inter alia, from England, Germany, the US, Italy, T e Netherlands, France, India, Spain, China, Switzerland, Austria, Poland and Bulgaria).

According to Zhanna Shkourdyuk, chairwoman of the chamber, foreign parties are usually experienced in applying for court protection, aware of the possible perspectives involved in case resolution and prepared for an adversarial trial.

T e chamber does not hear a lot of IP cases. In 2010, it tried 96 cases, 59 of which were industrial property disputes; 37 were related to copyright. Unlike courts of general jurisdiction in Belarus, the chamber is not overworked. T erefore, it can carefully consider cases that oſt en demand non-legal expert knowledge. If this is the case, the chamber summons experts and asks them to prepare an opinion on various IP topics such as art, linguistics and technology.

T e chamber’s decisions come into eff ect immediately aſt er they are announced and are not subject to appeal. T ey may be reviewed only by way of supervision if higher offi cials of the Supreme Court or the Prosecutor’s Offi ce protest. T e chamber reports that just three to six percent of its decisions are annually challenged by way of supervision.

Some trademark owners consider that civil trials conducted by the chamber are too lengthy and costly and prefer a less cumbersome administrative procedure. But while in the latter it is the state that prosecutes an infringer, collects fi nes and disposes of seized counterfeit goods, the former procedure allows a trademark owner to claim in its own discretion the most appropriate remedy.

T e Belarusian trademark law, in addition to injunction and compensation for damages, provides the following civil sanctions for the unlawful use of a trademark:

• Th e removal of an unlawfully used trademark or a sign that is confusingly www.worldipreview.com

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