General Information | Patents of Invention
Trade & Service Marks | Industrial Designs | Domain Names
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General Information

Area: 198,500 sq. km.
Population: 5,000,000 inhabitants.
Capital: Bishkek, with about 1,000,000 inhabitants.
Languages: Kyrgyz, Russian.
Currency: Kyrgyz Som (KGS).

GENERAL REMARKS

The Kyrgyz Republic used to be a part of the former Soviet Union. The republic declared its independence on August 31, 1991. The Patent Department of the Ministry of Education and Sciences was established on June 15 1993.

Former USSR or Russian industrial property rights filed prior to August 2, 1993, could be re-registered in the Kyrgyz Republic until the end of 1994. The corresponding Kyrgyz Certificates of Registration have already been issued for a large number of registrations based on the former Soviet Union rights.

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Patents of Invention

LEGAL BASIS

• Patent Law, of February 2, 1998, and amendments as of March 7, 2003.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, since February 14, 1994.
• PCT, since February 14, 1994.
• Eurasian Patent Convention, since January 13, 1996.
• Strasbourg Agreement, as of September 10, 1999.
• Budapest Treaty, as of May 17, 2003.

FILING REQUIREMENTS (to be sent to resident agent for filing an application)

• Power of Attorney (no legalization);
• Specification, claims and abstract (if not available in Russian, preferably in English);
• Drawings;
• Priority Document, if priority is claimed, to be filed within four months of the filing date.

REMARKS

National Phase of PCT: under Chapter I: 31 months; under Chapter II: 31 months.
Validity: issued after preliminary and full examination - valid for 20 years.
Annuities: are due beginning with the third annuity.
Opposition: not regulated.

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Trade and Service Marks

LEGAL BASIS

• Trademark Law, of January 28, 1998, and amendments as of March 7, 2003.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, since February 14, 1994.
• Madrid Agreement, since February 14, 1994.
• Trademark Law Treaty, as of August 15, 2002.
• Nice Agreement, as of December 10, 1998.
• Vienna Agreement, as of December 10, 1998.

FILING REQUIREMENTS (to be sent to resident agent for filing an application)

• Power of Attorney (no legalization);
• Prints of the sign to be protected (25 prints for black and white signs; 10 prints in color and 15 in black and white for color signs);
• List of goods and services, according to the International Classification; one application may include goods belonging to more than one International Class (to be translated into Kyrgyz or Russian);
• Priority document, if any (to be filed within three months from the filing date).

REMARKS

Kinds of protection: trade marks and service marks (wordmarks, device marks and combinations thereof). Besides the original version, filing of wordmark applications in the Cyrillic alphabet is highly recommended, as the Kyrgyz language uses the Cyrillic alphabet, and Russian still being a parallel language in the country.
Classification: International.
Obligation to use the registered mark: must be used; if not used within any three-year period after the registration (or last use) date, the mark can be cancelled upon request of an interested party; nominal use (advertising, publications) is accepted in absence of actual use.
Duration - renewals: 10-year period after the filing or last renewal date (note: marks re-registered on the basis of the former Soviet Union registrations are due for renewal 10 years after the Kyrgyz filing date, or the last renewal date in the former Soviet Union).
Opposition: not provided for.

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Industrial Designs

LEGAL BASIS

• Patent Law, of February 4, 1998, and amendments as of March 7, 2003.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, since February 14, 1994.
• Locarno Agreement, as of December 10, 1998.
• Hague Agreement, as of March 17, 2003.

FILING REQUIREMENTS (to be sent to resident agent for filing an application)

• Power of Attorney, no legalization;
• Photographs and drawings;
• Specification of the design (if not in Russian, preferably in English);
• Priority document (if any).

REMARKS

Duration - renewals: after complete examination: 10 years from the filing date. Renewable for one additional period of 5 years.
Opposition: not regulated.

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Domain Names

LEGAL BASIS

• There is no specific legislation although some regulations on the organization and management of country code top-level domain names do exist.

FILING

• ccTLD: .kg
• Applicant: individuals and legal entities.
• Local Presence: not required.

REMARKS

Duration - renewals: one year, renewable.
Uniform dispute resolution procedure: none.

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If you wish more detailed information concerning intellectual property protection in this territory please contact us or order Katzarov’s Manual on Industrial Property®.

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