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

Area: 33,700 sq. km.
Population: 4,300,000 inhabitants.
Capital: Kishinev, with 780,000 inhabitants.
Languages: Romanian (official) and Russian (still used).
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 on December 27, 2002.
• Plant Varieties Law, as of November 28, 1996.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention (June 3, 1993).
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (February 14, 1994).
• Eurasian Patent Convention (February 16, 1996).
• Budapest Treaty (December 25, 1991).
• Strasbourg Agreement (September 1, 1998).

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

• Power of Attorney (no legalization);
• Specification, claims and abstract (may be filed in Romanian (3 sets), or in English, French, German or Russian (2 sets), whereby the corresponding Romanian translation must be filed within two months from the filing date);
• 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: issued after a formal, preliminary 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 (June 3, 1993).
• Madrid Agreement (February 14, 1994).
• Madrid Protocol (December 1, 1997).
• Trademark Law Treaty (August 1, 1996).
• Nice Agreement (December 1, 1997).
• Vienna Agreement (December 1, 1997).
• Lisbon Agreement (October 27, 2000).

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

• 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 wordmark applications in the Cyrillic alphabet is highly recommended, the 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 Industrial Design and Model Law, in force since February 13, 1997, last amended on December 27, 2002.

MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Paris Convention (as of June 3, 1993).
• Hague Agreement (March 14, 1994).

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

• 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 six months after the publication of the official notification of grant.

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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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