Region: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice has drafted a new law amending and supplementing a number of IP laws and regulations. The aim is to bring the country’s IP legislation fully into line with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s standards in the area of IP protection and with the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks.

07 December 2016

Significant changes have recently been introduced to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin. Among other things, the amended law establishes the principle of regional exhaustion of trademark rights, and Article 4 provides for the registration of trademarks in the name of both legal entities and natural persons. Previously, a natural person had to be registered as an entrepreneur in order to be entitled to register a trademark.

01 September 2015

Numerous amendments to Kazakhstan’s trademark legislation have entered into force. Among other things, the amendments establish strict requirements regarding the language of documents filed with the Kazakh Patent and Trademark Office. The language requirements contribute to an increase in the filing costs and have thus provoked negative reactions among local trademark attorneys.

03 July 2012

The Kazakh Registry has announced the opening of domain name registrations under ‘.қаз’, which means that it is now possible to register domain names entirely in characters from the Kazakh Cyrillic alphabet. During the sunrise period, which ends on July 31 2012, holders of trademarks registered before December 31 2011 and containing Kazakh alphabet characters can register the exact equivalent domain name under ‘.қаз’.

12 June 2012