On the 13th of December 2019 in the official gazette was published the new Law on Marks and Geographical indications (Law on Marks and GIs). The law was voted in the parliament on the 28th of November and entered in force on the 17th of December.
The new law on marks and GIs revokes the old one which was in force from 1999 with several changes during the years.
The grounds for the radical change is the requirement of synchronisation of the national legislation with DIRECTIVE (EU) 2015/2436 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 December 2015 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks and REGULATION (EU) No 1151/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs.
One of the changes which is introduced in the change in the definition of what constitutes a mark:
According to the old law on Marks and GIs 9:
(1) Marks are signs that are capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of other persons and can be represented graphically. Such signs may be words, including the names of persons, or letters, numerals, drawings, figures, the shape of goods or of their packaging, a combination of colours, sound signals or any combination of such elements.
(2) A mark may be a trademark, a service mark, a collective mark or a certification mark.
According to the new law on Marks and GIs art. 9:
(1) Marks are signs that are capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of other persons and can be represented in the State bulletin in a way which allows clear and exact defining of the object of protection, granted with the registration. Such signs may be for example: words, including the names of persons, or letters, numerals, drawings, figures, the shape of goods or of their packaging, colours, sounds and any combination of such sings.
(2) A mark may be a trademark, a service mark, a collective mark or a certification mark.
The difference in the definition of a mark is:
- the requirement for the signs to the “represented graphically” is replaced with the requirement “be represented in the State bulletin in a way which allows clear and exact defining of the object of protection, granted with the registration”;
- the examples of possible marks changes from “words, including the names of persons, or letters, numerals, drawings, figures, the shape of goods or of their packaging, a combination of colours, sound signals or any combination of such elements” to “words, including the names of persons, or letters, numerals, drawings, figures, the shape of goods or of their packaging, colours, sounds and any combination of such sings” with the explicit mentioning of “sounds”.
