English
Registration is a requirement in order to secure rights to a trademark. Kazakhstan follows the "first to file" principle.
Visit the national office at the following URL: http://www.kazpatent.kz.
Neither actual use nor intent to use is required for application.
The following can be grounds for opposition:
- breach of copyright
- proprietary rights
- trade names
- the mark is descriptive
- the mark is generic
- the mark is misleading, disparaging or deceptive
- the mark is not distinctive
- notorious or well-known mark
- registered design rights
- registration in the name of the representative or agent of the proprietor of the mark
- rights in a personal name
- the mark consists of a geographical indication
- protection of flags, armorial bearings, and/or other State emblems
- the mark is against public policy or principles of morality
The following parties may initiate an opposition:
- any interested party
- a licensee
- the owner of an earlier right
The following can be grounds for cancellation:
- proprietary rights
- breach of copyright
- notorious or well-known mark
- registered design rights
- the mark is descriptive
- the mark is generic
- the mark is not distinctive
- the mark is functional
- rights in a personal name
- the mark is misleading, deceptive or disparaging
- the mark consists of a geographical indication
- the mark is against public policy or principles of morality
- protection of armorial bearings, flags and other State emblems
- registration in the name of the agent or other representative of the proprietor of the mark
- See Section VIII.A. Use Requirements
The following rights are established by registration:
- the exclusive right to use the registered trademark
- the right to license other third parties to use the trademark
- the right to object to later conflicting applications
- the right to request for a cancellation action against a later conflicting registration
- the right to request for counterfeit goods to be seized by customs authorities
- the right to file an infringement case against third parties for using a confusingly similar mark
- the right to receive damages for infringement
The opposition period begins on the registration date.
For oppositions on the ground of conflicting registration, it must be filed within five years of the registration date.
For oppositions on the grounds of other reasons, it can be filed during the registration’s validity date.
Kazakhstan is a signatory of both the Madrid Protocol and the Madrid Agreement.
Periodic statements of use are not required.