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

Area: 33,700 sq. km.
Population: 4,466,706 inhabitants (estimated 2006).
Capital: Kishinev, with 780,000 inhabitants.
Languages: Moldovan.
Currency: Moldovan Leu.

GENERAL REMARKS

One of the ex-USSR republics, now an independent State with its own Patent Office - AGEPI - State Agency of the Republic of Moldova for Protection of Industrial Property and Trade Marks.

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Patents of Invention

LEGAL BASIS

• Patent Law, as of December 28, 1995; last amended of October 4, 2008.
• Plant Varieties Law, as of November 28, 1996; last amended of September 6, 2008.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, since December 25, 1991.
• Patent Cooperation Treaty, since December 25, 1991.
• Eurasian Patent Convention , since February 16, 1996 (denunciation of the Convention with effect froma April 26, 2012)

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney (no legalization);
• Specification, claims and abstract (may be filed in any language, but if not Moldovan, then a Moldovan translation must be filed within a period of two months);
• Drawings, 3 sets (A4);
• Priority document, if claimed, to be filed within three months from the filing date.

REMARKS

National Phase of PCT: under Chapter I: 31 months; under Chapter II: 31 months.
Validity: short patent issued after a formal, preliminary - valid for 6 years and full examination - valid for 20 years from the filing date.
Annuities: accumulated and due after the grant of the patent; subsequent annuities are payable after the anniversary of the filing date.
Opposition: may be filed within six months after the publication of the official notification of grant.

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Trade and Service Marks

LEGAL BASIS

• Trademark and Appellation of Origin Law, as of May 8, 1996, last amended on December 27, 2002.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, since December 25, 1991.
• Madrid Agreement, since December 25, 1991.
• Madrid Protocol, since December 1, 1997.

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney (no legalization);
• 7 prints of the sign to be protected (75 x 75 mm) (none for word marks);
• List of goods and services, according to the International Classification;
• Priority Documents, if any.

REMARKS

Kinds of protection: trademarks and service marks (word marks, numbers, letters, digits, device marks, three-dimensional, and combinations thereof). Besides the original version, filing of word mark applications in the Cyrillic alphabet is highly recommended, Russian still being one of the parallel languages in this country.
Classification: International.
Obligation to use the registered mark: compulsory. If not used within any five-year period after the registration (or last use) date, the mark can be cancelled upon request of an interested party.
Duration - renewals: 10-year period from the filing date, renewable for further periods of ten years.
Opposition: within three months after the publication.

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Industrial Designs

LEGAL BASIS

• The Moldovan Law for the Protection of Industrial Designs, in force since November 30, 2007.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention, since December 25, 1991.

• Hague Agreement, since March 14, 1994.

FILING REQUIREMENTS

• Power of Attorney, no legalization;
• Photographs and/or drawings (13 sets) (photographs: size 80 x 80 mm, maximum permissible 160 x 240 mm) (plus 12 photographs for general view of the dominant colors);
• Drawings, (schemes), confection map, if necessary;
• Specification of the model;
• Priority document (if any, which can be filed within three months from the application filing date).

REMARKS

Duration - renewals: after formal examination: 5 years. Extension: four additional 5-year periods.
Opposition: may be filed within three months of publication of the data concerning the application (following the formal examination), and within thirty days after publication of the decision to grant the design.

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

REMARKS

Duration - renewals: one year, renewable yearly.
Uniform dispute resolution procedure: available (ICANN UDRP model) before WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center.

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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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