Summary of the Trademark Law of the Moldovian Dnestr Republic,
established on June 22, 2000, entered into force on July 18, 2000.

Protected are Trade and Service Marks which are distinguishing the goods and the services of one person from similar goods and services of other parties, juridical and/or natural persons. Trademarks may be registered for juridical or natural persons which have the respective business in respect to the registered goods and services. The owner has the exclusive right on the respective Mark and may forbid the use. Nobody may use a Mark without the allowance of the owner. Infringement is the illegal production, use, import, advertisement, sale or any introduction in the market or storage of similar goods with identical or similar Marks. Registrable are Word Marks, Design Marks, 3-dimensional Marks, or other signs or their combinations. This could mean that there are no limits: Sound Marks, not only music but any sound, fragrances, colours or combinations of colours are protectable as well. Not protectable are Marks without distinctiveness as well as all the usual exclusions such as flags, heraldic signs, emblems, names of States and international organisations. Not protectable are generic names and signs designating quality , quantity, properties etc. , inclusive prices. Descriptive/non-distinctive elements of a Trademark may be disclaimed if they are not the dominating part of the Mark. Not protectable are Marks which are deceptive in respect to the producer and which are against the moral or the humanity. Not protectable are Marks which are identical or similar to already registered ones, to well known Marks which are not registered but which are protected according to international regulations, which are identical or similar to geographic denominations (they may be disclaimed for the case that Trademark applicant and owner of the appellation of origin are identical) or with Certification Marks. From the registration as Trademarks are excluded: known firm names or part of them, designs of third party and as in many of the Eastern Europe countries known objects of literature and art as well as family names, pseudonyms, portraits, facsimile of well known persons without their consent, without the consent of their heirs or without consent of the respective authority inclusive the parliament of the Dnestr Republic. Applications have to be filed at the Patent Office whereby foreigners have to use a Patent Attorney and one application may include only one Mark. In the application form there has to be a description of the Mark. The list of goods and of services has to be classified according to the Nice-Classification. It is possible to claim a priority according to the Paris-Convention. The application is examined formally and to the substance. The formal examination takes place within a month after the filing, then follows the examination to the substance and in case of a positive result the decision of grant. The Trademark is then registered in the Register. Appeal may be filed against a decision of the formal examination and the decision of rejection within three months. It is also possible to file a further appeal to the Court against the decision of the Appeal Board within six months. The decision of the Court is final. Reinstatement of lapsed terms is possible within a period of two months. The duration of the registration is ten years , with a renewal term of ten years. Collective Marks are registrable. Statutes have to be filed. The examination is the same as for the other Marks. The Trademark has to be used by the owner or his licensee. The use may be in advertisement, on letterheads, expositions, and packages etc. The grace period of 5 years starts from the date of registration or 5 years prior to the request of cancellation due to non-use. As far as the exhaustion of rights is concerned, it does not seem to be limited to the territory of the Republic. Trademarks may be assigned in most of the cases but the public should not be cheated upon about the producer, whatever this means. The licensee is responsible but the license contract has to include the provision that the quality of the goods of the licensee is not lower than the quality of the goods of the licensor and the licensor has the obligation to control the quality of the goods of the licensee. The agreement has to be registered at the Patent Office. A registration may be cancelled by everybody during the whole life time. If the Mark is registered infringing the rules concerning absolute obstacles to registration. A cancellation action based on relative obstacles has to be filed within 5 years from the publication date of the registered Trademark, the decision of the Patent Office may be appealed within six months to the Court, presumably to the Town-Court of Tiraspol. The decision of the Court is final. Protection of appellations of origin Certain geographic denominations are in principle protectable but they are excluded if they are already generic in the Moldavian Dnestr Republic for the respective goods. A denomination may be registered at the Patent Office by one or more physical or juridical persons. The use of this denomination is allowed for everybody producing these goods in the respective area. with the same properties. The registration is valid for an unlimited time period. The filing and the examination is equivalent to the Trademarks, inclusive appeal and reinstatement. The document issued has to be renewed every ten years and a document of the respective authority stating that the owner still lives there and produces the respective goods has to be provided. Licensing is of course not possible. The exclusive right may be cancelled if the production if the goods having the specific properties mentioned in the document is not possible anymore. Firm names Firm names are protected as well. These firm names must be words having distinctive features, should not be similar to any other firm name,should not be deceptive, and must be defining a juridical person without naming the juridical status, this means without Ltd, AG, S.p.A, GmbH, OOA, or OOO. These names should not be similar to already existing Trademarks or appellations of origin. Firm names have to be registered. The owner has the exclusive right to use the name and to forbid the use by third party. The firm name has to be expressed in one of the governmental languages which are Russian, Moldovian and Ukrainian. If foreign words are used in the firm names they must be translated into one of the governmental languages or transliterated. If there is a collision between a firm name and a registered Trademark these regulations do not extend to branch offices and representations of foreign juridical persons. Infringement cases concerning license agreements or assignments, unlawful use of appellations of origin, unlawful use of firm names are dealt by the Court (Arbitration Court). There may be claimed the injunction, the recovery of the damages, the publication of the Court decision, the destruction of the goods or the packages or the Trademarks on the goods or packages. The same concerns the infringement of the appellations of origin. There may be fees to be paid to the local organisation because of the profit made.

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